


Running Blind

by D3anwash3r3



Series: Running [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Jealousy, Mystery, Original Character(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 129,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24032857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D3anwash3r3/pseuds/D3anwash3r3
Summary: They were heroes and the world was supposed to love them. Their lives were supposed to be perfect, because they were the good guys and the good guys always won in the end, right? Life as they know it was going to change. Friends would become enemies, secrets revealed, and the unexpected behind every corner. They were taught to expect the unexpected, but will they?
Relationships: Clint Barton/Original Female Character(s), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Running [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699690
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: A Nod to the Original Characters, Oc Centric Fics





	1. Chapter 1

Webster's dictionary defines a hero as, " _a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities."_

Katie sat in the dead of night sitting on the floor of her living room watching yet another late night special on the events of Sokovia, and New York, and Washington and how in the center of it all were the Avengers. Once upon a time Katie thought they were heroes, but at this moment and over the past year, she didn't feel like much of one. She didn't feel admired, because the world was split between those who supported them and those who thought they should be locked away.

She flicked off the television when she saw the lights flicker from outside. She stood to her feet and walked over to the window, and peeking through the blinds.

"This has to be some kind of record or something." came the very rough, sleep filled voice of her husband from behind her. He walked over peeking through the window as well to witness the scene of her brother stepping out of a red pickup truck and walking around to the drivers side and leaning in for a very long and disgusting kiss with the blonde behind the wheel. "Isn't that the librarian?"

"No, that is the teacher." Katie muttered with a shake of his head. "My brother is such a man whore, it's ridiculous." she turned to face Clint, whose hair was very wild above his head, and she chuckled. "Did the lights wake you?"

"No, the empty side of our bed woke me up." Clint said before walking over and placing a hand on the side of the television and sighing. "Still warm." he turned back to Katie. "This is getting crazy."

"To you it's crazy. You're fine with just walking away."

"No—" Clint stopped taking a deep breath and lowering his voice to not wake the sleeping child upstairs. He walked over to stand in front of his wife. "My whole life I only knew one way of living and then I met you and you changed everything—" he pointed to the ceiling. "That little girl up there, changed everything. So no, it's not easy for me to just walk away, but when I see what I'm walking toward, when I see what's waiting for me on the other side, that makes it a little bit more bearable."

The front door opened, and the sound of a low humming came from the man who was obviously a bit intoxicated. Matthew suddenly stopped when he spotted Katie and Clint standing there in the dark.

"I know it's past curfew mom and dad, Jimmy had a new toy and I guess time just got away from us." Matthew joked before going into a fit of laughter. "Why the hell are you two up?" he pointed to Clint. "You're usually dead to the world, and you're—" he pointed to Katie. "You're usually sneaking back upstairs in hopes that no one notices that you're having trouble sleeping." the man shook his head before turning and walking toward the kitchen. Both Katie and Clint followed the man, just as he pulled a carton of milk from the refrigerator and brought it to his mouth.

"So when is this vacation of yours over?" Clint asked before the man could drink from the carton. "I mean I'm sure the CIA is missing it's top agent."

"Oh stop with the flirting, my sister is right there." Matthew said looking over to Katie who rolled her eyes before walking over and plucking a glass from the cabinet and placing it in front of her brother. "Is this your way of telling me to use a glass."

"It's my way of telling you that if your mouth comes in contact with that carton, I will rip it off." she replied with a smile before turning to Clint. "I'm going to bed now." she walked over to the man who brought an arm around her. "You coming?"

"In a minute, I'm going to talk to Matt for a moment." Clint replied glancing over to the man whose head was in the refrigerator. "I'll be right up." he placed a kiss to her lips before the woman pulled from his grasp and disappeared out of the room.

"If this is about me coming in late, I sort of assumed that because I was an adult that it wouldn't be that much of a problem." Matthew said before grabbing a carton of left over Chinese and bringing it to his nose for a sniff.

"I don't give a rats ass about when you come in as long as you don't wake up my daughter when you do."

"Which probably won't happen. That kid sleeps like a rock." Matthew said grabbing some noodles from the carton and bringing them to his mouth. "You guys are very lucky." he glanced back over to Clint who didn't seem to be in the joking mood. "You're worried about her."

"There's something on her mind that she's not telling me about and it's getting to her." Clint replied with a shake of his head. "Has she said anything to you?"

"No, but I'm not surprised. My sister has spent her whole life running, and now she's standing still." Matthew said. "She's still getting used to all of this, but I'm sure she'll come around."

"I hope you're right." Clint muttered before turning.

"Hey C." Matt called. At some point over the last year Clint and Matt had actually become somewhat of what some would call friends. Matt had even stopped calling the man Agent Asshole, and now had a more endearing nickname that Clint appreciated. Clint stopped and turned back to the man. "Nice hair." Matthew laughed and Clint simply sent a glare to the man before turning and heading back to his bedroom.

Clint found Katie already curled up in their bed, her eyes closed as she feigned sleep in an effort to get out of talking to him. Clint slipped into bed beside her, bringing an arm around and pulling her back to his chest before pressing a kiss to her head.

"Talk to me." Clint whispered and he heard the sigh escape the woman's lips. "Is it the dreams?" he knew the weird dreams about purple men and weird gloves and the fact that they weren't going away was weighing on the woman. Katie turned in his arms, her eyes going to his and even in their dark room where the only light came from the moon, he could see them and even after all this time they still took his breath away.

"It's weird." Katie said placing a hand on the side of the man's face. "To want something so badly, to fight for it and to run as fast as you can until you get to it, and then you get it and something still feels missing." she closes her eyes and lets out another deep sigh. "Maybe I'm going crazy."

"Or maybe you're just really happy here, with your adorable daughter, and your ridiculously handsome husband. You're not used to the happy and now that you have it, you're questioning it." he lent forward, pressing a kiss to her lips. "And now it's time to stop all questions and just enjoy this life. This new life." he leaned in for another kiss, this one deeper, slower and filled with only an ounce of the passion he held for the woman. "A new life filled with lots of married sex." the woman laughed as Clint's lips began trailing along her neck.

"Oh yeah?" she muttered her eyes fluttering closed as his lips meet a sensitive spot along her neck. There were definitely parts of this new life that she could get behind.

The next morning Katie stood on the porch, not even attempting to hold in her laughter as she watched Clint and her brother paint the barn. Matthew looked as if he may keel over at any moment, and Katie couldn't help but watch his lazy brush strokes. He promised that he would help paint the barn, and Clint had a thing about promises. It's why he didn't care how late Matthew came in last night, or how hungover he was, the man was going to follow through on his promise.

"You should see this, sweet face." Katie says before walking over and picking up her daughter who'd been on the porch as well, playing with blocks. "You see your dadda and uncle, that is what some would call a funny sight. They watched as Matthew went to dip his brush in the paint, and when he whipped it out, it splattered paint on the side of Clint's face. It made Matthew laugh, as Clint turned a glare to him.

"I told you to just let me sleep." Matthew said. "And now you're covered in paint. Well not completely, but I could fix that—"Matthew dipped his brush in the paint once again.

"Matt, I will kill you with my bare hands." Clint said watched the man stand up straight.

"Not in front of my little buddy." Matthew said nudging his head toward the house. Clint looked over to see Katie holding their daughter in her arms just as another splat of paint hit his face. Matthew just continued to laugh, and so did Katie from her spot on the porch.

"She's young." Clint says turning back to Matthew before dropping his brush in the paint. "She won't even remember this day." Matthew dropped his brush as well and began backing away. "How do you want to die?"

"Underneath Kim Kardashian, which doesn't happen today, so see ya!" and with that the young man turned and ran off. Clint stood there for a moment, before looking over to his wife who couldn't stop laughing.

"Come in for breakfast, after you kill him." Katie said with a shake of her head before turning and walking back inside the house. "And that is why girls are smarter than boys." there was a ringing from somewhere and Katie placed Natalia in her play pen before searching out the sound. "I know your father hid my tablet, but where—" she stopped by the bookcase and saw the thin tablet hidden between two books. "Your father is horrible at hiding things." the woman plucked the tablet from the shelf before walking over to sit on the couch before answering the call. Soon all she saw was the back of someone's head, but she knew whose big head it was. "Mr. Stark?" suddenly the man turned around, a smile coming to his tired face as he saw the woman.

"I was this close—" he brought his thumb and index finger in the camera's view to show his point. "To showing up on that farm and making sure Robin hood didn't bury you underneath the corn stalks."

"He hides my tablet. I think he doesn't want me to talk to this guy who calls all time of day." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "I don't think he realizes that said guy doesn't give up that easily."

"Well not on you." Tony replied and Katie smiled. "Now, enough of your face, where is the brat that's probably going to inherit my millions." Katie sent the man a pointed look. "I'm kidding, sort of. I'm just toiling the idea, nothing's in stone."

"Well it's a good thing you're going to live forever." Katie replied before standing to her feet and walking over to pick her daughter into her arms. "Look who it is Tai, it's your godpappy."

"Tai? She's not an Asian dish, Kitten." Tony said waving toward the little girl. "Tell your mama you're a baby bird." the little girl laughed, as she began speaking her native baby language. "Did you hear that?" he turned to Katie. "She just called me dadda."

"No she didn't." Katie replied as she walked over to sit on the couch, Natalia in her lap as they looked to the screen. "And Clint's not in here, so you can stop trying to upset him."

"Where is the man who kidnapped my family?"

"Outside murdering my brother for throwing paint on his face." Katie said, with a light chuckle. "Hands down the funniest thing I've seen today."

"Video or it didn't happen." Tony replied.

"Sorry no proof for you to file away and watch when you need to good laugh." Katie said as Natalia began touching the screen. "So where's Pepper, this wedding better knock my socks off with how fabulous it's going to be. I mean I've heard of planning every detail, but Tai will be in college by the time there's an actual wedding." Tony dropped his head for a moment. "What?" he looked back to her with a smile and a shake of his head.

"Nothing, I've only been saying the same thing, but it's her day." Tony replied clearing his throat. "But that's actually not why I called you."

"What's up?"

"There's going to be a meeting tomorrow with the Secretary of State."

"Wait, you're meeting with General Ross?"

  
"Well no, he's now in a bigger role, which only makes him a bigger ass, but I digress." Tony sighed. "We messed up. We were kicking ass and not paying attention to the things we should've been paying attention to. He wants to meet with us and present a plan."

"What plan?"

"I don't—" Tony shook his head. "Just come to the meeting, please."

"That's going to be hard since Clint is very adamant about us staying away from all things Avengers." Katie said with a shake of her head before placing a kiss to her daughter's head. "He seems to think that we should focus on this."

"And what do you think?" Tony asked.

Katie turned away because honestly she didn't know. She wanted to be happy and content here with her family, but it was a life she'd never experienced. She was always fighting, and she didn't know how to just stop.

"That's what I thought. I'll send a plane—"

"Tony, stop. I can't just fly off to your new Avenger's Home for Wayward Children." Katie replied. "I have a daughter who I've never been separated from."

"Then bring her with you. She's growing way to fast, and these ridiculous video chats are not enough."

"There's still one hitch in your plan."

"Barton, I know and I've thought about this. In the middle of the night, pack your and baby bird's things and just disappear without saying a word." Tony replied and Katie just stared at him. "It will work, trust me."

"I trust you, but not when it comes to matters of my marriage." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "I'll talk to him."

"And I'll send you the flight information. See you soon, kitten."

"Maybe."

"Oh, who are you kidding. You're coming off of pure curiosity." Tony said before looking to Natalia. "And I will see you soon. I already have your room all set up, all the toys you could ever dream of."

"Tony—"

"Ah ah, private convo with my goddaughter." he snipped. "And when you get here, we are going to ditch your mom and eat cake and ice cream until we have tummy aches."

"I hate you." Katie said and the man looked up to her with a smile.

"Love you too kitten." the man said with a wave before ending the call.

Katie sat the tablet on the table before turning to girl to face her, who smiled at the sight of her mommy.

"This isn't going to be a pleasant conversation, sweet face." Katie said before placing a kiss on the girls head and standing to her feet.

Matthew sat on the floor crawling around, chasing his niece who couldn't stop laughing. He was glad that the little girl wasn't paying attention to the raised voices coming from above them.

"I don't get it Kat!" Clint said with a shake of his head. "This was supposed to be it. I wanted it. You wanted it. Are you telling me that now it isn't enough."

"Of course that's not what I'm saying." Katie replied walking over to him. "I'm saying that I wish I could be the woman who can turn off the instincts and who can turn off the desire to help. I wish I could just be content with pretending as if the world didn't want to lock us away."

"Not us." Clint said with a shake of his head. "Tony and the others, they're still out there, they're still making stupid mistakes. That explosion in Lagos, that was them."

"No, that was us!" Katie replied. "It's still our team. Their mistakes are our mistakes, their victories are our victories. That doesn't stop because we're here."

"It does when we have a little girl downstairs who depends on us to keep breathing. And that—" he pointed toward the window. "Going out there, risking our lives, that's another chance for us to be taken away from her, and I won't let that happen. I refuse to let that happen."

Katie looked at the man for a moment not surprised by his argument. Clint Barton was in love with that little girl. She held his heart, and he would do anything to save her the pain and grief that they both had suffered growing up.

"If Ross is meeting with the Avengers, this has to be some sort of tactic to be put on a leash. He wants to put us in a box and let us out when he deems necessary."

"Is that a bad thing. Regulation, rules." Clint countered and Katie walked over to him, placing her hands on his chest.

"We've worked for people who had regulations and rules and if we didn't break them we wouldn't be here. To them the Avengers are a weapon, one they want to control as they see fit, but that's not right. And I would like to let the secretary know that."

"So you're going?"

"I think I should." Katie replied as Clint lifted his eyes from hers and sighed. "But you don't agree."

"I don't, but I'm not going to stop you. That's not how we work." he looked back to the woman before bringing his arms around her. "It's a meeting. You go to the meeting and then you come back."

"You're not coming?"

"Someone has to stay with Tai."

"Well I thought we could just bring her along. She's never been to New York, and I'm sure the others would love to see how big she's getting." Katie said and Clint just shook his head. "You don't want them to see her."

"I don't want them near her." Clint replied looking back to his wife. "We have successfully created a world for her that doesn't include people who are super soldiers and flying metal suits and I would like to keep it that way for as long as possible." Katie sighed, knowing that the overprotective father inside of her husband was not going to bend on this. "Just go and come back."

"Ok." Katie replied looking up to the man with a small smile. "Go and come back."

The next morning, as expected, there was plane in front of their house. Clint stood at the open door just looking at the plane, wanting nothing more than to tell his wife that she wasn't getting on it. He knew that was impossible because no one told her what to do. He walked over, picking Natalia up in his arms, before placing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I don't know what to do bud." Clint whispered holding the girl to his chest. "I really don't want her to go." he heard footsteps and turned to see Katie coming down the stairs, in a gray pant suit, her now long hair combed back into a pony tail. "You look very unlike my wife." Katie rolled her eyes as she walked over to pluck the girl from his arms. She began kissing the girl. "What's up?"

"One of the few memories I have of my mother was her leaving me." Katie said looking over to Clint. "I promised myself that I would never do that to her and now—"

"Now you're going to a meeting." Clint replied. "And then coming back." she let out a deep breath, but nodded.

"That's the plan." Katie said smiling down to the little girl in her arms. "Let's just hope things stay on plan." she combed the girls short dark curls with her fingers. "Alright sweet face, there are some things I'm going to need you to do for mommy. One I need you to take care of your daddy." she glanced over to see the smile on Clint's face. "He's going to worry and I'm going to need you to distract him for a little bit."

"Never gonna happen Kat." he said and Katie shook her head before looking back down to her daughter.

"And two I'm going to need you to make sure your daddy doesn't kill your uncle. They're like best friends now—"

"Lies Rinny!" Matthew called from his spot on the couch where he'd been napping. "That man is my mortal enemy."

"Who lets you sleep underneath his roof!" Clint countered and Matthew just waved him off.

"And Three, we need to get our mommy, daughter psychic connection all geared up." Katie said dropping her forehead to the little girl's. "I promise that I will be there when you need me, alright." the little girl simply reached up and place a small hand on Katie's cheek causing a tear to fall from Katie's eye.

"You're such a girl." Commented Matthew who'd sat up and was now watching them.

"Come over here and say that." Katie said glaring over to the man before drying her eyes with her hand. She placed a kiss to Natalia's head before handing her off to Clint. She looked from the little girl to her husband and sighed. "Tell me to stay. Tell me that you don't think I should go and that you'll just die if I leave." Clint chuckled before leaning forward and placing a kiss to the woman's lips.

"I don't want you to leave, and I think a little part of me does die when you leave me, but you believe something Kat, and if you don't see this through then it's gonna eat away at you." Clint replied before smiling down to the little girl tugging on his shirt. "We will be here waiting for you." Katie sighed, placing a hand on the little girl's belly before walking over to Matthew and placing a kiss on top of his head.

"Ew, Rinny cooties." Matthew groaned before Katie smacked his head and headed for the door. She'd only made to the porch before she stopped.

"If you're gonna be this dramatic, you might as well just stay." Clint said from behind her and she couldn't help but laugh. She turned back to him with a smile. "We love you mama."

"I love you too." Katie replied with a final wave before turning and heading toward the plane.

Katie sat with her eyes closed for most of the plane riding, just counting the seconds until she landed. It still amazed her that after all these years and as many planes she'd been, being up so high still made her nervous. Her phone suddenly rang and she began reaching through her bag, still keeping her eyes closed before finally grasping it.

"Yep." she greeted and there wasn't a reply. She heard someone there though, and background noise coming from the other end. "Is someone there?" still nothing, and she sighed because this wasn't the first strange call she'd gotten. She didn't mention it to Clint because she knew he'd probably overreact, and since the calls never went beyond strange breathing, she simply didn't want to worry him. "Look this is getting old. You're obviously calling me for a reason, and I doubt it's to listen to my voice. Just grow a pair and speak." only more breathing and she sighed. "Alright, this has been fun, but when that cat lets go of your tongue, give me a call back." and with that she ended the call. She opened her eyes and looked down to the unknown number that she could never trace and just shook her head before turning to look out the windows. Soon the familiar emblem appeared and she just knew that she was finally there.

When she stepped off the plane, she wasn't sure why she expected some big welcome home party. Instead she arrived on the helipad on the top of the facility and saw no one in sight.

"Ok." she said looking around in case she was wrong. "I guess I'll just show myself inside." Katie walked slowly, unsure of where she was going. She'd had a hand in the design, in the security setup, system configurations, but that was all done from the comfort of her farm. So as she walked, she felt like a fish out of water. Faces walked past her, none familiar, and no one who gave her a second glance. She wasn't even sure where she was supposed to go and so she decided to stop someone wearing a security uniform.

"Excuse me," the guard stopped and looked over to her. "I'm seriously lost, and—"

"Where is your employee ID card?" the guard asked interrupting Katie. The woman quirked a brow before glancing over to the people who walked past, each wearing a badge clipped to them with their face.

"I'm sorry, I don't have one." she said with a smile. "But if you—"

"No one is allowed entry into this facility without proper identification." the guard said once again interrupting her and her patience was wearing very thin. "How did you get in here?"

"The roof, I was dropped off, I just need to find—" the guard suddenly grabbed her arm and jerked her down the hall. "Hey! What the—what the hell are you doing?"

"You've intruded on private property and you’re gonna be punished accordingly." the man replied, his grasp tightening around her arm as he practically dragged her down the hall. Katie seriously didn't like to be man handled, and so without warning she jerked out of the man's grasp. When he tried to reach for her again, she grabbed his arm, pulling it before sending a kick up to his face followed by an elbow in his side before pushing him into the wall. She was about to run, but she suddenly realized the people who were once just passing her were now stopped, with guns aimed right at her.

"So much for a warm welcome." Katie muttered before raising her hands. "C'mon, someone here knows who I am!" she began spinning around, before spotting a security camera and looking up to it. "FRIDAY, call your boss and have him get his ass down here, now!"

Tony stood staring out the window as they awaited for the others to file into the conference room. He knew this was the right thing to do, he just hoped the others felt the same way. Tony's phone rang, and he slipped it from his pocket about to answer.

"Is everyone here?" Secretary Ross asked, looking to the faces that sat around the table before glancing over to Tony.

"Not quite." Vision said from his place at the table and everyone looked at him. "Tony, you may want to answer your phone." They all turned to Tony who looked down to his ringing phone before bringing it to his ear.

"FRIDAY, what's—" his eyes widened before he rushed from the room.

Katie spun around, eyeing every person with a gun aimed at her, and she'd had enough.

"Alright, I waited long enough." Katie said dropping her hands to her side. "FRIDAY, activate protocol P.S.Y.C.H!" suddenly every gun was jerked from hands, and shot to the ceiling where they stuck in place. "I created that protocol in the event real enemies came here with very big guns." eyes went back to her and she noticed them starting to inch closer. "You know what fine, I haven't had a good fight in a while." she began stretching a bit. "Who's first?"

"Anyone move a muscle and you're fired!" a familiar voice spoke from somewhere in the crowd. Everyone looked around until the crowd began to part and out walked Tony. "Alright people, new rule, before you attack someone in my building, please make sure she's not my best friend!" he glanced around them with a shake of his head. "Alright, go about your business." no one moved as they glanced up to the ceiling and Tony did as well with a chuckle. "I knew you hijacked FRIDAY." he looked back over to Katie. "You're such a liar."

"No, I'm a realist." Katie replied before looking over to the guard who grimaced as he stood to his feet. Katie walked over, to hold out a hand and guard simply looked at it before taking it and allowing her to help.

"You're Katherine Barton, aren't you?" he asked and Katie simply nodded. "Sorry, no one's really seen you around here, it won't happen again."

"Don't worry about, it's his fault." Katie replied pointing back to Tony. "He was supposed to meet me on the roof, with an over the top welcome party."

"And I so meant to, but I was never informed you were coming, which I assume is your fault, since I figure that you probably made FRIDAY deny all requests for your whereabouts." Tony said and Katie glanced over to him. "So in reality this is your fault." he glanced up to the ceiling. "Now give these people their guns back."

"Sorry Tony, but I don't think anyone is too excited to have a bunch of guns fall on their heads." Katie replied before looking up to the ceiling. "FRIDAY, take the weapons to confiscation." suddenly a panel in the ceiling opened up and all the guns slid inside before the ceiling closed back up again. She looked around to the people who watched with wide eyes. "I bet you know who I am now." she turned to Tony before punching him in the arm. "Now where's this meeting happening?"

They found themselves in an elevator alone. Katie was fixing her blouse as Tony watched with a small smile. She felt his eyes on her and she looked up to see him staring.

"You're such a weirdo." Katie said before the man suddenly engulfed her in a hug. She laughed as she hugged him back. "I don't know how you can miss me, when we literally talk practically everyday,"

"Talking on the phone is not this." he replied pulling back with a smile. Katie placed a hand on his cheek and smiled back. "Nothing beats this. So where's my baby bird."

"Her daddy wasn't too keen on the idea of letting her off into the world of superheroes and villains just yet." Katie said.

"So he's become one of those dads." Tony said with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, one of those dads who would do anything to protect their kid from the bad stuff for as long as possible." Katie replied as they turned back to the doors.

"He's going to suffocate the kid and she's going to rebel and get things pierced and start dating some guy named Kato." Tony said with a shake of his head. "At some point you're going to have to realize that leaving him will be the best for everyone."

"You know at some point I'm going to hit you if you keep telling me to leave my husband." Katie replied as the doors finally opened. They headed toward the conference room, when Katie suddenly stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" Tony asked and Katie sighed.

"Ok, so I never told you this, but I was once held for a week in a secret facility by the US military, that was lead by our secretary in there." Katie said staring at the door. Tony looked at we with slightly wide eyes, unsure if she were joking or not.

"Ok, why?"

"Well when you hold a man at extinguisher point, who you're afraid has a rage monster inside of him, you take that woman and you lock her in a room and you ask her every question under the sun until you realize she knows nothing." Katie says tilting her head slightly as she looks at the door. "One whole week of a windowless room, a cot, a toilet and General Ross who I just wanted to rip the mustache right off of his face." she glanced over to Tony. "Does he still have the mustache? "

"He does." Tony replies with a nod. "I think he'd like it safely attached to his face though."

"Of course he would." Katie replies taking a step forward, only for Tony to quicken his step to block her.

"This is a peace meeting, remember that." Tony said with a pointed finger.

"Sure, peace, pieces, I can do both." Katie replied taking a step forward, but Tony didn't move. "You want me to play nice, fine, but one snippy comment and his mustache will be safely attached to his body, just might not be his face." Tony rolled his eyes before reaching forward and pushing open the door. He stepped aside to let her in first, her eyes going to the man seated at the head of the table, impatience written all over his face.

"Finally." Ross huffed standing to his feet as he looked over to Katie. "Ms. Banks—"

"I haven't been Ms. Banks for a long time now, Mr. Secretary." Katie says, trying her hardest to remain calm and non violent.

"That's right, you married the archer fellow." the man said and Katie let out a snort before turning to the others.

"I'm going to stop talking to him now, and I will yell at you all later for not having some ridiculous welcome home banner or at least some balloons." She let her eyes go to the familiar faces of her family that she hadn't seen in a long time. Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey sat on one side of the conference table as Sam, Vision and Wanda sat on the other. Tony chose the chair in the corner of the room to make his seat.

"Well we've had bigger issues to deal with that didn't include getting you a piñata." Natasha replied, her voice filled with unapologetic sarcasm. Katie turned back to the woman, finding herself actually missing these conversations.

"Is that your way of telling me that you missed me?" Katie asked and Natasha just rolled her eyes.

"Well there's the fact that Stark didn't inform any of us that you were coming." Steve said standing to his feet and walking around to the woman. "A year has seemed like a lifetime." Katie smiled bringing the man into a hug. "We've missed you and Clint around here."

"We've missed you guys too." Katie says pulling from the hug. "Now all of our time is filled with dirty diapers, and vomiting, and that's just Matthew."

"How is Natalia?"

"At some point today, we are going to have a very important meeting, right?" the secretary asked and they all turned to him. "I hate to interrupt your reunion, but I do have an important job, and that includes being here."

Katie lets out a deep sigh before turning back to Steve with a smile.

"Tai is fine, growing everyday. I have lots of pictures that I'll show you later." she replied before looking around for a seat. "Let's get this thing over with before I kill the secretary of state."

"Was that a threat, Ms. Banks?!"

"It was." Katie affirmed looking over to the man. "A big fat, blatant threat, and this will be the last time I suggest that you do not refer to me as Ms. Banks." she turned and both her and Steve took their seats. Katie found herself sitting beside Vision and Wanda. Vision turned to Katie with a smile, and Katie simply held out a fist to which he bumped with his own.

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack." The Secretary began and Katie rolled her eyes looking over to Tony who gave her a pointed look before turning back to the man. Katie chose to ignore what she assumed was the ramblings of an old man until he finally got to the reason they were here. "The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. But while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word "vigilantes".

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked, that sarcasm still dripping from her words.

The Secretary turned to her, and answered without hesitation." How about "dangerous"? What would you call a group of US based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned with what they leave behind?"

"Girl Scouts of America." Katie answered and the man turned a glare in her direction. "I'm sorry Mr. Secretary, but that seems like a over dramatized statement that I think you and your friends over in the oval cooked up as some sort of justification for what you want to do."

"And this—" the man stepped aside as the screen behind him lit up. "New York—" soon images from the horrid day appeared on the screen. Aliens ravaging the city, along with the Hulk who jumped from building to building not caring much about what was destroyed or who got caught in the crossfire. "Washington D.C." the screen changed once again to a video footage of the helicarriers used in Alexanger Pierce's Insight, being blown from the air, then as they drop to the water, civilians once again caught in the crosshairs. "Sokovia." Once again the screen changed to a horrific scene, one that doesn't sit well with anyone. They watched the city that is now hovering, buildings collapsing, and people just forced to await their end. "Lagos," Another image of the aftermath of an explosion, and people lying dead in the street. Katie noticed Wanda turn away.

"Ok." Steve says, "That's enough." The video ends and Ross walks back to stand in front of the table.

"In the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate."

"Tell me Mr. Secretary, former Military General—"

"Katie—" Tony warns, and she waves him off not about to let this guy totally diminish the successes that stem from these missions.

"No, because you and the government you serve seem to have a pretty good idea about how this works, how fighting beings from different planets, and fighting highly intelligent robots is supposed to play out." Katie said standing to her feet. The secretary opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn't finished. "Oh that's right, you don't. You fight wars. You think you've perfected how to fight wars, and that's what you think you can help us with. So please tell me, oh wise and all knowing General Ross, how do you fight a war without casualties."

"Unnecesary causalities—"

"Casualties are never necessary!" Katie snapped angrily as she took a step forward, and everyone stood. It was Sam who was closest and chose to block her from getting close to the man. "They're not planned, but it doesn't mean we don't try to prevent them."

"The problem is that your trying to prevent them, doesn't actually prevent them!" the man countered. "But—"he turned to the others with a nod. "We think we have a solution." he turned to one of his security, who handed him a book with lots of pages.

"I think we should sit." Sam said looking to Katie and she turned to him and just nodded before returning to her seat. Everyone else did the same, as Ross sat the book down and slid it to Wanda first.

"The Sokovia Accords. Approved by a hundred and seventeen countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of the United Nations Panel only "when" and "if" that Panel deems it necessary.

"The Avengers were created to make the world a better place." Steve stated and they all turned to him. "I think we've done that."

"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor or Banner are right now?" Ross asked and Steve simply turned away. "'Cause you can bet if I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes, there'd be consequences." the man turned and walked back to the head of the table, which he seemed most comfortable. "Compromise, reassurance. That's how the world works, and believe me this—" he pointed to the accords. "This is the middle ground."

"So there are contingencies." Rhodey spoke finally and Ross nodded.

"Three days from now the UN meets in Vienna to Ratify the accords. So, talk it over." Ross said nodding to his associate before the pair begins moving toward the door.

"I'm sorry, did you just say three days?" Katie asked looking down to the book. "That thing looks longer than the bible." she looked back over to the man. "How are we supposed to make any kind of informed decision in three days."

"You're all remarkable people, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"And if we come to a decision that you don't like?" Natasha asked.

"Then you'll retire." the man said with a nod before he and his associate turned to leave.

"This is bullshit." Katie said standing to her feet and walking over to pick up the accords. "It took them longer than three days to come up with this title." she tossed it back on the table with a shake of her head. "I'm out of here."

"Wait!" Tony called and she looked over to him. "We have to at least talk this out. Weigh the pros and cons."

They ended upstairs in the common area. Sam and Rhodey seemed to be engaged in an intense debate about the accords. Katie sat beside Steve, her eyes scanning over the pages as he flipped through them. She shook her head before looking over to Tony who she would assume would have a lot more to say, and yet he sat slouched on the couch just listening to everyone.

"I have an equation." Vision spoke and everyone turned to him.

"Oh, this will clear everything up." Sam said sarcastically crossing his arms over his chest.

"In the 8 years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially." Vision stated. "And during the same period, a number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurable rate."

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.

"I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight... Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand." Vision said and Katie shook her head.

"That is a very simple theory." Katie said glancing over to the being who took amusement in her statement. "Tony told the world he was Iron Man, so others found the strength to finally step out and accept that they were different, just as bad people decided they didn't like different and wanted to fight them. That's nothing new. There are good people and bad people in the world, just because we choose to be good, doesn't mean we can control the outcome. There are some things we just couldn't have prevented, but what we did do was do our very best to fix everything."

"That is also true." Vision said with a nod. "It doesn't change the facts."

"Theoretical facts." Katie countered.

"You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal." Natasha said looking over to Tony, who sat slouched on the couch listening to everyone.

"It's because he's already made up his mind." Steve says looking back down to the accords.

"Boy, you know me so well." Tony snips standing to his feet and heading back to the kitchen. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort." he began rinsing out a cup, and let out a sigh. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a Bed and Breakfast for a biker gang?" he turned, placing his phone on the table, before swiping a hologram to appear. Soon the face of a young man appears on the screen. "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor-level gig, an intel plan for the fall." Tony turned to the screen, and shook his head.

Katie listened to Tony's speech of a young man whose life ended too soon when he decided to go volunteer in Sokovia. She soon realized the basis behind Tony's decision. It was guilt.

"And whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony, if someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve says glancing over to the man.

"Who said we're giving up?"

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions." Steve countered closing the book and holding it up. "This document just shifts the blame."

"Sorry, Steve, that... that is dangerously arrogant." Rhodey argued. "This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D., it's not Hydra." Katie let out a snort. "But I guess you think different?"

"I do." Katie says standing to her feet and looking over to Tony. "You feel guilty, we all are because we couldn't save Charles, and we couldn't save the others who were with him. But I'm sorry, I don't think the answer is strings." she shook her head. "We've done strings, moving and shaking to the beat of someone else's drum." she looks over to Rhodey. "I know you believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity of our government, but they're just people and to them The Avengers are a powerful weapon."

"And they want to just point and shoot us wherever they want?" Rhodey asks. "That's crazy."

"The thing is, that it's not crazy. I can't say that it will happen, but in the off chance that it does, in the off chance they aim us at an enemy we don't think is an enemy, or they tell us to stand down from someone who we think really is an enemy, what then." Katie looked around the room. "Everyone in this room knows that there have been mistakes made."

"That's an understatement." Tony mutters and Katie shakes her head.

"Katie's right, these are people. People have agendas and agendas change."

"That's good!" Tony said. "That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down. Stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you "chose" to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose." Steve countered turning to the man. "We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty." Tony says.

"You're saying they'll come for me." Wanda says, and they glance over to her. The explosion in Lagos at her hands was still weighing on her.

"If they come for you, then they come for us, and I don't think that's a fight they want." Katie replied turning back to Tony. "And you don't fall on your knees to big brother government telling you they'll stick your head in the toilet if you don't let them copy your homework."

"Sometimes you have to grow up. This is me growing up and realizing the whole honey with bees theory may actually make sense."

"Except we don't need to catch bees." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "We need to protect the world without the puppet strings."

"Maybe Tony's right." Natasha said suddenly, and everyone turned to her not really believing those words really came out of her mouth. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off..."

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam asked

"Natasha misses the rush of taking orders." Katie says ignoring the glare the woman sends her. "This is pointless." she looks over to Tony and sighs. "Sign it, don't sign it, I no longer care."

"Katie—" Steve started and Katie held up a hand to stop him.

"Don't. This team was created for a reason, and the moment that thing is signed, then we lose it."

"And how does that happen?" Tony asks and Katie turns back to him.

"The only checks and balances we ever needed came from the people in this room. It's why we were chosen. It's why when you speak, Steve counters it with his boy scout of America routine. It's why when he speaks, you counter it with logical scientific theory. In the end a decision is made, but if we sign this, and our opinions no longer matter, what we want to do no longer matters, what's the point." Katie grabs her bag. "So sign it, don't sign it, I don't care." she looks over to Wanda. "Someone comes for you, I will be there." she turns for the door, but stops and looks over to Tony. "There's a difference between growing up and just plain forgetting who you are."

"I didn't forget who I am Katie." Tony said, her name sounding so strange coming from him. It's how she knew that there was a shift in their relationship. One she wasn't sure could ever be shifted back. "I'm just choosing to be different." Katie looked at him for a moment before turning and walking out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Life on a farm was pretty simple. You could grow a few crops, take in a couple of animals, but that wasn't the Barton farm. Katie had no desire to grow anything and Clint found himself too busy at times just witnessing his daughter grow up. Some times it amazed him how that tiny baby wrapped in a blanket was now this short thing who likes to run even though she can barely walk.

"You're having one of your moments aren't you?" came the voice behind Clint. At the moment he sat on the porch, staring down to his daughter as she played with her toys, completely content in the moment. There was only one thing missing, and he hoped she'd be back soon. "One of those fatherly moments."

"Don't you have a date or something?" Clint asked looking over his shoulder to Matthew who stood in a t-shirt and shorts, sweating profusely after his run. "You're usually not here for long periods of time."

"And you're usually not left alone with a baby." Matthew replied walking over and climbing up the steps to sit beside Natalia.

"So you're here in case I screw something up?" Clint scoffed. "She's my daughter, I've been alone with her lots of times."

"Sure when Rinny's in the shower, or she's taking a nap." Matthew replied glancing over to the man. "Never taken care of her when Rinny is in a different state."

"What are you afraid will happen?"

"There are lots of things that could go wrong C." Matthew replied with a shake of his head. "Like now." he glanced down to his watch. "It's way past her nap time." Clint looked down to his own watch and cursed because the man is right.

"I can just put her down now." Clint said standing to his feet and walking over to pick up the girl.

"That would be fine, if at the moment it wasn't time for her to eat lunch." Matthew said standing to his feet as well. "Plus if you were to put her down now, she would never go to sleep tonight. She's probably gonna be a tough kid to get down actually. She's usually fussy when Rinny puts her to sleep."

"And instead of telling me all of these things before, you choose to tell me after I screw everything up?" Clint asked.

"Well yeah, it's more fun that way." Matthew replied before Clint took a step toward him, causing the young man jump back quickly. "Look all you have to do is tire her out a bit before she goes to bed, and she should be fine." Matthew glanced down to his watch before turning and heading into the house.

"I'm probably gonna kill your uncle, bud." Clint said smiling down to his daughter before they took walked inside so he could get her some lunch. They walked in the kitchen where they found Matthew already making himself a sandwich.

"So hey, did you see the message for you?" Matthew asked as Clint sat Natalia in her high chair.

"What message?" Clint asked turning back to the man, and Matthew simply pointed toward the notepad next to the phone. With a quirked brow, Clint walked over and read the message before turning back to Matthew. "Is this English?"

"I'm dating this girl whose left handed and I sort of told her I was too, so now I'm trying get acclimated to using my left hand, you know." Matthew said before taking a bite of his sandwich. "Dude, she's super hot and—"

"What was the message?!"

"Oh, your in laws are stopping by." Matthew said and Clint eyes went wide.

"When?"

"Uh..." Matthew walked over to read his note, squinting as well trying to make sense of it. Suddenly the doorbell rang, and both me shared a look before peeking out the kitchen to see the familiar faces of Martin and Cynthia Chambers outside. "I think they said around now o'clock." Matthew turned back to Clint's glare before slowly backing away.

Clint rarely found himself nervous, but it would seem that in the presence of Martin Chambers the feeling seemed to strike him. After the expected greetings, Cynthia volunteered to get Natalia some lunch. Matthew cowardly scurried away upstairs to get a shower, leaving Clint and Martin in the living room in a very awkward silence.

"So you said she's gone to New York for some Avengers meeting?" Martin asked in an attempt to break the tension in the room.

"Uh, yeah. I guess after that explosion in Lagos the government decided to get involved." Clint said with a shake of his head. "I guess they're looking to put some reigns on the Avengers."

"You're an Avenger, aren't you?" Martin asked and Clint let out a sigh before turning at the sound of his daughter's laughter and a smile came to his face. "Oh I get it." Clint turned back to the man with a quirked brow. "Some titles are more important than others. Father...husband...not many titles top those."

"She doesn't get it." Clint replied. "I mean this can be it for me. Her and that kid, they can be my whole world and I would die a very happy man, but she—"

"She was taught never to run away from a fight." Martin stated firmly. "I taught her that. Taught her that if she believes in something, then it is her obligation to fight for it. And if she believes in something, then it's hard to change her mind."

"Trust me, I know." Clint said with a chuckle. "She believes in the Avengers, so I have no doubt she's probably giving someone hell right now for trying to mess with them."

"Alright!" Cynthia said appearing in the living room with her granddaughter on her hip. "We're all fed, and now I think someone is ready for a nap."

"I can take her." Clint said standing to his feet.

"You sure, I don't mind." Cynthia said turning to the child. "I missed these moments with Katherine. Moments I can never get back."

"Cin—"

"No, it's fine." Clint said smiling down to his daughter who seemed very content in the woman's arms. "Do you remember where her room is?"

"I do." Cynthia replied before looking back down to the child. "Alright, lets go take that nap." and with that the woman carried the child up the stairs.

"I'm sorry if she's being a little pushy." Martin said and Clint turned with a shake of his head. "We never really thought we would have this moment when she found out the truth." Martin let out a long sigh as he thought about all the twists and turns that had to happen so they could get to this point. "We thought she'd hate us forever."

"Yeah, well Kat has a way of surprising you." Clint replied.

"So besides this Avengers business, how has she been?" Martin asked and Clint just shrugged.

"She's fine. I think she's even getting used to the farm life." Clint said with a light chuckle. "She doesn't know it yet, but she's going to help grow some stuff out in the field."

"Ha!" Martin laughed. "Good luck with that. If it doesn't have a motherboard, then she isn't interested." the man's laughter died down, before he cleared his throat. "So she's good?" Clint suddenly felt as if the man knew something he didn't.

"Is there a reason she wouldn't be?" Clint asked, this time a bit more serious.

"No, I'm just making sure you're taking care of my daughter. After everything she's been through, she deserves nothing but the best when it comes to her life."

"I couldn't agree with you more." Clint said when both men turned at the sudden footsteps coming down the stairs. They turned to see a freshly dressed Matthew who looked like he was heading out. "You're finally leaving?"

"Don't sound so happy." Matthew said before. "Hey I don't think grandma knows about Mr. monkey and his required presence during nap times." Clint's eyes searched the room, before spotting the stuffed animal on the floor.

"I should get this upstairs." Clint said before picking it up and glancing over to Martin. "I'll be back down." with that the man went rushing upstairs as Matthew walked over to take up his seat.

"So Martin, how you been?" Matthew asked and Martin couldn't help but chuckle. "I can't imagine the life of a dead man being too exciting."

"You'd be surprised."

"You know I'm kind of surprised you and the missus would come here. Kat and C are being watched like hawks by some very big players in our government."

"We know, and we have friends who are really good at keeping us in the shadows."

"I guess they must be good if you two haven't been hauled out by now." Matthew replied before glancing to the stair to see if anyone was there. "So Marty, tell me—" he turned back to the man. "What are you doing here?"

"Visit with my daughter and granddaughter." Martin replied never tearing his eyes from the young man. Martin would never say the words out loud, but he actually liked Matthew. He had an eye for detail, had a way of being able to make moves without a lot of people looking at him.

"Yeah, but coming here to the farm was a risk. A risk you wouldn't have taken if you didn't have a very good reason." Matthew countered watching the man closely. "Is there something happening that we should know about?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but I got this feeling you and Grandma Chambers aren’t just here to play the doting grandparents role. If something is happening—"

"If something was happening, why would I tell you?"

"Because if it concerns anyone in this house, and it leads to something bad happening to them, then I would like you to know I gave you an opportunity to come clean, before I kill you." Matthew said, before a smile crossed his face. He suddenly jumped to his feet. "But hey, maybe I'm just reading too much into something so innocent." the man headed for the door.

"I need to know if she's alright." Martin said and Matthew stopped and turned back to him. "Anything happen to her out of the ordinary?"

"Out of the ordinary, how?" Matthew asked coming closer to the man. "What's going on?"

"I'm not completely sure, but I've recently been made aware of something that involves Katie." Martin replied and Matthew fell back into the seat in front of the man. "Look maybe it was all a lie, maybe—" Matthew suddenly stood to his feet and stalked into the kitchen leaving Martin very confused before he walked back out and tossed a sketch pad on the table. Martin hesitantly picked up the pad, flipping it open not expecting the images he would see.

"She's having these dreams." Matthew said and Martin looked up to him. "Of those things in that sketch pad. They have names and personalities, and she knows where they come from because in her dreams she was there with them." Martin's eyes looked back down to the images as he continued to flip the page, his eyes settling on a menacing purple man, with dark eyes, the words, "Thanos." written underneath. "At first I thought they were just dreams, but after all this time—" Martin once again met the man's eyes. "So now I told you what I know, you tell me what's going on with my sister."

S.H.I.E.L.D was an organization that was created to protect the world from the things it couldn't handle. It was supposed to bring peace to the world, and yet it was corrupted. S.H.I.E.L.D was probably the worse thing that ever happened to Katie and yet it also gave her the best things in her life. Her family was a product of S.H.I.E.L.D, a team of extraordinary people was a product of S.H.I.E.L.D.

As she thought about this, really thought about it, it began to make Katie question her decision about the accords. She didn't agree with them, but there was still the chance that something positive could come from them. Katie found herself aimlessly walking in the large, open land that surrounded the facility. Once she got tired of walking, she plopped down on the grass and laid back to stare up to the sky that was currently changing. The sound of the crunching grass came to her ears, and she wondered which of them was coming to check on her. Soon the face of Vision appeared above her with a smile.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked and Katie simply patted the grass beside her, and the being went about lying down as well.

"I think I was too dismissive." Katie said with a sigh, as stars began peeking through the sky. "With Ross involved, and the UN, I just—" she looked over to Vision who continued to look up to the sky. "I don't trust it. This feels like their way of putting a leash on that dog they always wanted to control." she shook her head before turning back to the sky. "Or it could be their way of helping us."

"It's the unknown factors in the equation that are giving you doubts." Vision stated and Katie nodded. "How do you usually deal with unknown factors?"

"I plan for the worst possible case scenario." Katie replied. "It's just with this a plan, the worst case scenario could get me put in a very deep, dark, prison for the rest of my life." she glanced over to the being. "I have a husband, and I have a daughter, I shouldn't even be here, right?"

"I believe that every being on this planet is where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there." Vision spoke his eyes on the stars. "I believe there is a reason you are here, I believe there is a reason I am here. Everything has a purpose. The challenge is figuring out what that purpose is." the being turned to her, and Katie glanced from his eyes to the glowing, yellow jewel on his forehead. Her mind suddenly flashes to one of her many weird dreams, and she remembers a gem similar to the one on Vision's head on the strange glove.

"Tell me Vision." Katie says turning away to look back up to the stars. "Do you believe there are more to dreams than random images from our self conscious?" the being simply chuckled and Katie turned back to him, realizing that may have been a stupid question given who he was. "Well of course you do." she sighed. "I've been having these really strange dreams of things that can't be, and things that can't happen." she turned back to the stars. "And yet I think on some level they might be true. Which is crazy because there isn't some purple man searching for the infinity stones, or weirdly colored people, or talking animals and trees roaming beyond the stars." She closed her eyes and let out another sigh. "It's all impossible."

"Am I not an impossibility?" Vision asked for the second time since he'd been on this planet. Katie opened her eyes and turned back to the being as he sat up. "You're so filled with numbers, that you can't see beyond them. At some point you're going to have to see what you're afraid is true." and with that the being stood to his feet and walked off back toward the facility, leaving Katie with only his words.

Katie continued to look up to the stars, seeming to feel more comfortable with them as her ceiling at the moment. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and slipped it out and brought it to her ear.

"Hello dear husband?" Katie answered, assuming the only person calling her so late was none other than Clint. There wasn't a reply and the smile fell from her face. "Clint, you there?" still no sound, and Katie pulled the phone from her ear and sighed to see that it was her stalker again. She shook her head before bringing back to her ear. "You're not Clint, you're—" she chuckled,. "you actually have yet to say your name. I should probably just give you one, huh?" she began thinking up names. "It's kind of hard since I don't know if you're a dude or a chick. I should probably try a gender neutral name. How about...Jamie. That's a good one. I had a friend in high school named Jaime. She talked entirely way too much, but she was the only one with as many brain cells as me so I endured it." she paused in hopes to get a reply, but nothing but the slow breaths coming from the other end of the line. "You know this might be a good thing. You calling. I've had a very interesting day. I came home, and it's not home anymore." she chuckled. "Maybe that was the problem. I've never really had a home, and now I have one with my husband and my daughter and something felt like it was missing, and then I came here, to see my friends, well my family, but something felt like it was missing here too." she shook her head as she looked back up to the sky. "So I'm at the point where I'm looking for something, but I just don't know what it is. Have you ever felt like that?" There wasn't a reply and she didn't really expect one. "Well it's late, and you're being weird and not saying anything, so we should probably call it a night." she pulled the phone from her ear and ended the call before finally standing to her feet.

When she walked back into the facility she ran into Steve and Sam who both were carrying bags as if about to go.

"You two leaving?" Katie asked and they looked up to her.

"Yeah." Steve replied, but there was something off and Katie noticed before taking a step forward.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Peggy, she—" Steve couldn't even say the words yet, but he didn't have to. Katie placed a hand on his shoulder, before bringing him into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Steve." she whispered so only the man could hear. "Where's the funeral going to be?"  
"London." Steve said with a nod. "Sam and I were about to board the plane."

"I can come with too. Funerals are tough." Katie suggested and the man shook his head.

"Thanks, but that's alright. You should get home. It sucks that you flew all the way here—"

"Over bullshit, I totally agree." Katie said with a shake of her head.

"That's not what I was going to say exactly." Steve said and Katie just shrugged. "We should get going, say hi to Clint and Talia for me." Katie nodded before once again pulling the Captain into a hug before she watched him and Sam head down toward the elevator.

Katie turned, figuring before she left that she could probably talk to Tony. The issue once again came when she had no idea where he was. The halls at this point were practically empty, so Katie simply walked down the linoleum floors aimlessly.

"Is there a reason you're not asking for my help?" came a sudden female Irish voice. "You had no issue earlier."

"Well FRIDAY, earlier people's lives were in danger, right now I'm just lost and I'm sure at some point I won't be lost anymore." Katie replied before coming to a hall that lead in two different directions.

"You don't like me because I'm not him." FRIDAY stated and Katie simply rolled her eyes.

"Tony has been working overtime in the personalty department." Katie muttered with a shake of her head. "FRIDAY, I've been on a farm, in a very boring town with limited tech at my disposal. So no, me not asking for your help when I'm lost is just me forgetting that I can ask the thing that's not there to tell me how to get to Tony."

"Mr. Stark is his office, I can take you there if you would like." FRIDAY replied and Katie sighed as the elevator in front of her suddenly opened. Katie looked at it for a moment, unsure. "Just get on already." Katie rolled her eyes once again before stepping onto the elevator. She was glad the program chose to remain silent, she however was not pleased when the elevator stopped and in stepped Natasha.

"I thought you would be off to a farmer's life." Natasha asked as the elevator began to move again.

"I am, I'm just stopping by to say bye to Tony." Katie replied.

"So—" Natasha said turning back to the doors. "You mentioned to Steve that there were pictures." Katie smiled and turned to the woman. "Don't look at me right now."

"Why, you're so cute being all girly and asking to see pictures of your goddaughter." Katie said pulling out her phone and swiping a few keys. "Alright you now have them." she turned back to the woman. "Should get you through your plane ride to Vienna."

"You think I signed it."

"I know you signed it." Katie said turning away from the woman. "You don't want to be blindsided, and so you’ll peek your head in, let them think you're one of them while you watch their moves. If it works, good, but if it doesn't, at least you'll have some advantage." Natasha turned to Katie with a quirked brow. "While at SHIELD, I may have scanned one of your psych-evals."

"It's a good plan." Natasha said turning back to the doors.

"It is in a perfect world." Katie said with a shake of her head. "HYDRA had implanted themselves in SHIELD, and had agents walking past us in the hall and we didn't even know until one agent had this nagging feeling something wasn't right."

"Rhodey was right, the UN isn't HYDRA." Natasha countered just as the elevators finally opened. The woman stepped off and before the door closed, Katie took a step forward to hold the doors open.

"Do you know what HYDRA's biggest strength was?" Katie asked and Natasha stopped and turned back to her. "Everyone thought they were dead. They made some of the biggest moves in the world and no one knew it was them because HYDRA was just a whisper from the past. The UN probably isn't HYDRA, but you give anyone that much power, and that causality Vision was talking about starts to happen. Signing those accords is risk."

"Not signing those accords could be a bigger risk." Natasha countered. "And we don't need more enemies."

That was one thing Katie would agree to. She simply nodded before taking a step back onto the elevator.

When the elevator doors opened, Katie walked out to a large lobby like room, that was very dim lit. She did spot the office across the room, the door slightly open and light coming from inside. When she walked over and pushed open the door, she saw Tony standing at the window, a glass of bourbon in hand.

"I thought you would've fled back to your life of being Mrs. Old MacDonald." Tony said, knowing it was her without turning to see her. "What are you still doing here?"

"You know I think that is the first time you've ever asked me that." Katie said staring at the back of the man's hand. "You're really upset with me, aren't you?"

"No, I'm just a little disappointed." the man replied, and Katie's eyes went wide at the statement. He took a swig from his glass, before turning and pointing to her. "Do you love your daughter?"

"What kind of question is that?" Katie asked, feeling herself actually not liking the man in front of her at the moment. "Of course I love my daughter."

"So what would you do if your entire farm was floating in the air, and pieces of it just fell on your daughter, your husband and it could've been prevented, but some smart ass who has problems with authority didn't sign a simple piece of paper."

"So the Accords would've prevented Sokovia, they would've stopped Loki, alien from from a different planet from coming to New York and opening the sky?" Katie asked talking a step forward, "Oh, the Accords would've put the fear of God in Alexander Pierce and he and his HYDRA pals would've never built those carriers. One simple piece of paper could've prevented that?"

"No that piece of paper would've told us when to shoot and when to get civilians to safety!" Tony snapped slamming his glass to his desk and turning to the woman fully.

"And a piece of paper has to do that for us? A group of people who have absolutely no idea the type of things we're up against can tell us how to handle them?"

"This is pointless." Tony muttered turning away to look out his window. "You're too screwed up to get how important this is."

"And you're too much of a coward to believe that you're capable of cleaning up your own messes. You're still looking for mommy and daddy to come make it go away so you don't have to." Tony turned an ice glare toward the woman at the mention if his parents.

"I guess people do change in a year." Tony scoffed.

"I'm still me Tony. And you're still you. And a year of us not seeing each other only accomplished one thing." Katie said with a shake of her head. "It made us pay attention and we're not liking what we see."

"That's an understatement."

The pair stood there for a moment, simply staring at the other unsure how they found themselves in this moment. For so long they were as thick as thieves and just like that they found themselves on opposite sides of a line they didn't even know was forming.

"You should go." Tony said as less of a request. Katie turned away for a moment, suddenly hit with a pang of sadness before she turned back to the man.

"I should go." Katie said with a nod before turning. She stopped short of the door, finding this to be the moment for her to do something to change what she felt would happen the moment she stepped outside. In a very spontaneous moment, she turned around and walked over to stand in front of the man. There were so many words passing though her head that she wanted to just come flying out of her mouth, but in the end she decided to keep it simple. "I love you, Tony. Always remember that." and with that she turned and left, now satisfied with the way the conversation ended.

Katie ended up back on the elevator, her eyes closed as she let her back fall back against the wall.

"FRIDAY, I need you to book me a flight?"

"Oh, so now you want my help?" the program asked and Katie opened her eyes.

"Listen you little—" her phone interrupted her and she pulled it from her pocket, seeing the unknown number on her screen. "What?!" she practically yelled into the phone. "Why do you keep calling me? What do you want from me, because I'm one hundred percent sure I don't have it. Listen do yourself a favor and just stop calling me, because apparently I just screw things up." Katie closed her eyes once again dropping her head to the wall. "I'm sorry, I can't help you." she was about to hang up when an expected voice stopped her.

" _Wait!_ "

Katie opened her eyes and lifted her head because the voice that just came through her phone was a voice she'd recognize even after all these years.

"Bucky?"


	3. Chapter 3

Tony Stark loved having an audience. He loved being loud, and vibrant and saying all the things people usually wished they could, but couldn't. He loved being able to say whatever was on his mind without consequence. Tony knew he owed that kind of luxury to his wealth, to people not wanting to get on his bad side because they were afraid he'd fire themed. In many cases, Tony Stark really just loved to hear himself talk.

Today was different. Today there were actually too many words in his head for him to even speak a coherent thought, and so he chose to say nothing. To many it was strange, but today as he sat on an airplane to Vienna, there was one person bold enough to point out the behavior.

"Something happened last night, didn't it?" Natasha asked from her spot where she sat across from the man. It was still strange to him that she was taking his side on this one, but he didn't question it much, figuring he could use all the support he could get. "With Sparrow."

"Sparrow?" Rhodey asked from his spot beside Tony. He looked from Natasha to the man with a quirked brow. "Wait, I know this." he turned away in thought. "Katie!" Rhodes said proudly, before turning to the bored look of Natasha who just shook her head. "Sorry, sometimes there are too many code names to remember." Both he and Natasha turned back to Tony, who kept his eyes out the window.

"I knew her going away would change something, but I didn't think it would change her." Tony said, not even turning to him.

"She seemed the same to me." Rhodes said turning to Natasha who rolled her eyes.

"It's because she was the same annoying, big mouthed, smart person anyone has ever seen." Natasha replied glancing over to Tony. "What happened the last time you saw her?"

"It doesn't matter." Tony said waving the woman off.

"It kind of does, because I just got a text from Barton." Natasha said and Tony finally met her eyes. "Guess who hasn't returned to old Mc Donald's farm?" Tony let out a huff before unbuckling his seat belt and storming toward the back of the plane.

"Where are you going?!" Rhodes called after him, but the man didn't say a word. Rhodes turned to Natasha who shook her head before looking down to her phone. "Is this something we should be worried about?"

"When it comes to her, we should always be worried." Natasha replied before unbuckling her own seat belt and walking away as well leaving Rhodes alone wondering if he too needed to make a couple of phone calls.

Tony stalks to the back of the plane, closing the door behind him so he's all alone. He drops in a seat, that spins around as a holo computer appears.

"FRIDAY, give me a location of Katie's bracelet." Tony ordered.

_"I'm sorry, I can't do that."_

"And why the hell—" Tony stopped and dropped his head letting out a deep sigh. "When did she override your program?" Tony shook his head. "You know what it doesn't matter, because we planned for this. Run the counter attack function."

_"I can't do that either Tony."_

Tony stopped and stared blankly at the screen before reaching forward and bringing up FRIDAY's internal code and he let out a snort.

"She found it." he muttered with a shake of his head. "Of course she found it, she wouldn't be my kitten—" he let out a sigh as he remembers their last conversation. "Do you have surveillance of Katie before she left the facility."

"It's been erased."

"Fuck!" Tony snapped before standing to his feet trying to rack his brain. "So right now we don't know if she is no where to be found because she's being held against her will or if she's ghost because she wants to be." Tony stopped because he wasn't sure which one he wanted to be true. He walked over and typed in a string of code to reboot FRIDAY's system and hopefully give him control again.

Clint Barton could possibly be the angriest person in the world right now. Like he was pretty sure that if he were Bruce he'd probably be a hulk right now destroying this farm. He called her. He called his wife who was supposed to answer. That was their deal when ever they had to leave each other. They had to be reachable whenever the other called because when that phone rang and no one answered, their minds went to a dark place. A place that they could only be pulled out of by the sound of the other’s voice, or the sight of their face and Clint had neither in this moment. All he had was the sound of her voice mail telling him that she'd call him back when she got his message, but she still hadn't. The meeting was over, and most of the team was headed to Vienna for the UN meeting and he knows that she blatantly said that she wasn't going. Two days, two whole days, she was just gone.

Clint currently held his phone to his ear as he paced back and forth in his living room, ignoring the concerned glances from her mother and father in law. They chose to stick around until they knew Katie was alright. He'd been on hold for what felt like forever and each second was a second he felt himself getting deeper and deeper in that dark place. That place where he sees her being captured by rogue HYDRA agents, who now torture her for the location of her mother.

" _Barton_." a voice finally spoke. _"I'm sorry for keeping you on hold, but—"_

"Where is she, Coulson?" Clint demanded. Because when his wife goes missing he finds that the director of SHIELD or what used to be SHIELD would know the answer.

_"Katie's gone missing?" Coulson asked._

Clint stopped walking, because the man asked the question as if it were new to him. But it couldn't be new to him. Someone had know where she was right now.

_"Barton—"_

"You have eyes on her, on us." Clint stated what he felt were facts.

_"No, she clearly told me that your lives were to stay your lives. There have been no eyes on you and your family." Coulson said and he heard the heavy breath that escaped the man. "When did she go missing?"_

"I don't know." Clint said with a shake of his head. "She went to New York to some meeting—"

_"The meeting with Secretary Ross." Coulson said remembering hearing about the meeting and the impending ratifying accords. "Look if she was at Stark's facility, there has to be at least video footage of her leaving."_

"I texted Nat, who I figure is questioning Stark now, I'm just waiting." Clint stopped pacing and glanced over to Cynthia and Martin who still were watching him closely. "She is still a possible HYDRA target, why aren't you watching us?" he turned away and stalking out onto the porch.

_"Like I said—"_

"Coulson I heard what you said, but I also know that you wouldn't care how upset she was if you were trying to save her life." Clint replied as looked out to his farm.

_"Clint I'm sorry, but I promise you that I'm going to try to figure this out on my end." Coulson said._

"And what do I do?" Clint asked honestly wanting an answer to that question. "I can't just sit here and do nothing if my wife is in danger."

_"Barton, if you aren't already out there searching for her, then I have to assume that there's something keeping you in place." Coulson said and he heard another heavy breath from the man. "Look right now you need to stay strong, not just for you, but for your daughter."_

Clint knew he was right, he knew if this was just a year ago, nothing would stop him from going out there and searching for his wife, but now he had Natalia. If this really was some sort of HYDRA attack then he wasn't going let his daughter be vulnerable.

_"Katie has been out of the field for a while now, but I have no doubt in my mind that there isn’t still a fighter inside of her._

An annoying bug buzzed by Katie's ear, and she turned her eyes open. She had no idea what she was doing in Bucharest, searching the streets for a ghost.

_The moment she heard his voice, she glanced up to the camera before turning away._

" _Bucky, is that you?" she asked once more. Still there was no reply. "Don't you dare play mute with me. I already heard your voice. Are you alright?"_

" _I'm fine. I'm just—" the man let out a heavy sigh. "It's tough having memories of two different lives. In the end you're left wondering who you are."_

" _You're lost."_

" _So to speak, and it helps to hear someone familiar." Bucky replied. "Look I'm not supposed to call you, it's risky and—"_

" _But you did and now here we are. What do you need?"_

" _I don't know. I just really don't know. I'm sorry for calling, it won't happen again."_

_The line ended and Katie growled as she looked down to her phone. With a shake of her head, she glanced up to the ceiling._

" _FRIDAY, I need a computer." Katie said._

" _Well Mr. Stark's facility holds an array of computing devices, for example—"_

" _A computer!" Katie snapped angrily. "With a monitor and a keyboard, right now." there was a silence for a moment, before the elevator doors opened and Katie stepped out._

" _Mr. Stark has a lab that is at the moment vacant. Third door on your left." The program said and so Katie was off._

_The moment she stepped inside, the room illuminated as the large monitors powered on. Katie stripped off of her jacket._

" _FRIDAY, I am changing the hands of your puppet strings." Katie replied as she typed. "You do not tell Tony about anything I'm doing, all audio from that elevator is kept locked, any request for the footage just say that it's been erased and everything we do today does not get reported. Do you understand?"_

" _Yes, Katie." the program replied_

" _Alright, I need a trace on that phone call that just came to my phone." Katie said. She'd attempted to trace the call back on the farm, but her tech wasn't as savvy as the equipment Tony had. When her fingers stopped she looked up to the monitor, a map on the screen zooming in more and more until a red dot blinked. Katie tilted her head a bit and sighed. "FRIDAY, I need the next flight you can book to Bucharest."_

There was a payphone across the road from the cafe Katie decided to wait, hoping to catch a glance of the man she'd came looking for. She glanced down to her phone that once again rang, this time it was Natasha who called. Katie was supposed to be back on the farm right now, back with her husband and daughter. Something she's sure her husband knows at the moment. She's been gone for a little over forty eight hours without talking to anyone. It was wrong, and she felt completely guilty, but she couldn't explain this. She couldn't explain traveling half way across the world to find a man who almost killed her brother. But she heard his voice, heard how lost he seemed, and she couldn't help but relate. They were both victims of the two headed monster that was HYDRA/SHIELD and for some reason she just felt obligated to help him. Katie looked at the time, and realized she'd been sitting for about an hour.

"This is ridiculous." she muttered standing to her feet. She grabbed her back pack, pulling it over her shoulder, and it was just by chance that she looked up and saw a familiar face hidden underneath a baseball cap. The moment he saw her, the man just stopped walking. The shock was only momentary, before he crossed the road, and found himself standing in front of her.

"You just couldn't let it go, could you?" he asked and Katie smiled up to the man.

"Once you know me better, you'll realize that I don't let things go." Katie said before turning to sit once again. Bucky walked over to take the seat across from her. "So, what the hell are you doing in Bucharest?"

Tony promised himself that there would be none of his usual shenanigans at the UN meeting. He was going to be a grown up, shake hands, engage in small talk that was in no way, shape or form inappropriate or offensive. At the moment he was only partly successful.

He paced back and forth in the hallway, outside the meeting room. His fingers typed furiously on his Stark phone, still trying to undo the lock out function Katie initiated before disappearing.

"How is it going, FRIDAY?" Tony asked.

_"Your master key function is almost finished." the program answered through to comlink in the scientist's ear. "It seems to be taking longer than anticipated."_

"She's making us jump through hoops to undo this shit." Tony said as his eyes looked over the code with a careful eye. "Try her cell phone again." the man was so focused on the phone in his hands, that he nearly bumped into someone who appeared in front of him. When he looked up, he let out a sigh.

"Look it's no use. Sparrow knows how to go off the grid and become untraceable." Natasha said and the man just shook his head before looking back down to his phone. "I've used all my contacts, all my resources, and she's ghost."

"Is this voluntarily or involuntarily, exactly?" Tony asked glancing over to the woman. "She wants to disappear, that's fine, but I need to know that she's the one in control."

"What happened the last time you two saw each other?" Natasha asked once again.

"I told you it doesn't matter?"

"Maybe, but maybe not. It could be a clue to where she is right now." Natasha replied and Tony looked over to her and just sighed.

"She came to say goodbye, and the accords came up again." Tony glanced back down to his phone. "I tried to convince her to be here, to sign them."

"And she refused." Natasha stated and the man looked back over to her. "Have you totally forgotten who this woman is. She has a problem with authority, a problem with putting her life in to someone else's hands. I knew before she walked into that room that she wasn't going to sign anything Ross put in front of us."

"Yeah, well I thought having a kid would've changed her perspective on things." Tony said with a shake of his head. "Apparently it didn't. She said some things, I said some things, and then I told her to leave."

"You told her to leave?" Natasha asked. Of everything the man had told her, that was the most surprising. It was no secret that the relationship of Tony Stark and Katherine Barton was both strange and understandable. The moment SHIELD found out about the two meeting, there was no question that the friendship would happen. They assumed they could manipulate Katie into an alliance with SHIELD, but they underestimated the friendship that developed between the two. Natasha turned back to the man and just gave a nod.

"Hey, you guys." Rhodes spoke as he walked over. "It's about to begin." Natasha turned back to Tony, who looked at her for a moment before glancing down to his phone and letting out another sigh before slipping the phone into the pocket of his suit. He looked back over to her, before walking past her and Rhodes into the meeting. Natasha was about follow when Rhodes took a step to block her. "Any luck finding Katie?"

"Not yet." Natasha replied before attempting to step around the colonel, but he once again stepped to block her, this time causing the assassin to turn an annoyed eye toward him. "Was there something else?"

"It's just Katie is on half a dozen watch lists right now, and if she's suddenly off the grid I am obligated to report it." Rhodes said, to which Natasha rolled her eyes.

"If you think that will help, then go right ahead." Natasha replied giving the man a pat on the shoulder before walking inside for the conference.

Clint hated the moment where he realized he was finally going to have to make a tough decision. The man stood leaning against the wall of Natalia's nursery, looking down to the sleeping child who'd just gone down for her nap. There was a light knock on the door, and Clint turned as Matthew walked inside. The young man glanced over to the sleeping child, before turning to Clint.

"What could the CIA find out?"

"The CIA was hacked." Matthew said and Clint met the man's eyes in confusion. "All information on my sister is gone, and any attempt at searching for her with their facial recon software is pointless because even her picture has disappeared." Matthew shook his head with a sigh. "Nothing else has been compromised, but even so, someone with the ability to make themselves just disappear so easily is seen as extremely dangerous." Matthew glanced over to his niece. "Like I knew my sister was good, but I didn't know she was next level hacker good." he turned back to Clint. "What the hell was she thinking?"

"I'll be sure to ask her when I find her." Clint replied before stalking out of the room, and Matthew chose to follow behind him.

"So you're going after her?" Matthew asked following after Clint who headed for the stairs. "Do you even know where to start?" Clint stopped walking and turned back to his brother in law. "Look I'm worried about her too, but all signs are pointing to Rinny going off the grid. And when that happens, when my sister needs to disappear, then there's no one who can find her." Clint turned away with a shake of his head. "Dude, I know this sucks, but—"

"She's my wife." Clint interrupted the man. "Mother of my daughter." he looked back over to Matthew. "She needs to go off the grid, fine, but I need to know where that is. I need to hear her voice." Matthew looked at the man for a moment before giving a nod.

"I'll check back in with the agency." Matthew replied and when Clint took a step forward, Matthew stopped. "But until we have some sort of direction here C, I need you to stay here." Clint turned with a quirked brow. "The CIA doesn't like to be bested, and that's what someone did. And everyone is pretty sure that person was Rinny. All eyes are looking for her, and that means eyes are on you. If you're accused of conspiring with her, then you'll be taken in and then my little buddy down there will only have me and I'm pretty sure no one wants that.” Clint looked at the man for a moment before turning and heading downstairs. Matthew let out sigh before following behind the man.

The moment the men were down stairs they heard what could only be described as a whispered argument. Matthew and Clint shared a look before seeking out the only two people they knew could be arguing. They found Martin and Cynthia in the kitchen, where all conversations stopped the moment they appeared.

"Is there any news on Katie?" Cynthia asked first and Clint shook his head.

"Only that for some reason she's not showing up in any government file. Someone made her disappear." Clint answered.

"Not someone, she did it herself." Matthew muttered folding his arms over his chest. Cynthia turned to him with a quirked brow.

"Wait are you saying there's a possibility that my daughter is nowhere to found right now because she wanted it that way?" Cynthia asked and Matthew and Clint shrugged. The woman glanced over to her husband who simply shook his head before turning and stalking out the back door.

"Martin—" Cynthia called about to go after the man, when there was a sudden beep. They all turned to Matthew who snaked his phone from his pocket. "Is it about Katie?"

"No." Matthew said very seriously before looking over to Clint, and then rushing into the living room. He quickly flicked on the news that was currently showing a sight that shocked everyone there.

" _For those just tuning in, More than 70 people have been injured." the reporter still clearly shaken as the camera pans to the building that is still being sprayed with water. " At least 12 are dead. Including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect, identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations."_

"Was she there?" Cynthia asked suddenly and Matthew glanced over to her as Clint simply stared at the screen. "What the hell is a Winter Soldier?"

"A dead man." Matthew replied as he glanced back down to the news, a sudden memory of playing the Winter Soldier's punching bag came to him and his fist clench. "If that bastard has my sister—"

"It wouldn't make sense." Clint spoke suddenly. He glanced over to Cynthia and then Matthew. "Find out what the CIA has on Barnes. Don't even mention a possible connection to Kat, just see what they know."

"What are you going to do?" Matthew asked and Clint sighed.

"I'm going to try to calling her again." Clint replied grabbing his phone and heading out the front door and dialing her number once again.

Katie thinks she's going to remember this moment for a very long time. This moment where she finds herself very far away from her friends and family, sitting across from a man who everyone thinks is probably dead.

"You shouldn't have come here." Bucky said scanning the area for lingering eyes. "It's too dangerous for you to be here. If someone sees you—"

"You needed help." Katie said simply and the man turned to her. "I fell out of this huge flying ship and you made sure I didn't die. Because of what you did, I married my husband, have this adorable daughter. So yeah, when you call and you sound lost I will come help you get found."

"That's not possible." Bucky replied with a shake of his head. "There's no coming back from the things I've done, people I've hurt." he turned back to her. "Your brother, he—"

"Bucky stop." Katie said holding up a hand to him. "I do not want the details of the things you've done. Because you, the man sitting in front of me didn't do any of those things." Katie turned away. "Big, bad HYDRA did that to you, they did a lot of things to a lot of people." she glanced back to the man. "Stop blaming yourself for things you had no control over."

"That's easier said than done." the man said once again glancing around. "It's getting late, and we've been out in the open way too long." he turned back to the woman. "Where are you staying?"

"Like I just got here this morning, and I was sort of doing everything on a whim." Katie said before rubbing her tired eyes. Bucky sighed before standing to his feet and tossing a couple of bills onto the table.

"C'mon." Bucky said and Katie looked unsure before grabbing her back pack and standing to her feet as well. "You can crash at my place."

"Am I about to see where the magic happens?" Katie asked the man who simply shook his head before stalking away. "C'mon at some point I am going to make you at least smile." she ran to catch up to him.

When she walked into tiny apartment, it was as she expected. Very basic, with only necessities. There was nothing personal, not a lot of things in case he needed to leave quickly.

"There's a bed." Bucky said and Katie glanced over to the dusty mattress on the floor. "I know it's not much, but—"

"Shut up." Katie interrupted before tossing down to her bag and practically falling onto the mattress. The woman pulled her baseball cap over her face to block out the light. Bucky looked down to her for a moment before shaking his head and turning to take off his jacket. He walked over to the kitchen, but stopped when a thought suddenly came to him.

"Your phone, is—"

"It can't be tracked." Katie's muffled voice replied. "Plus I turned it off." he still looked over to her.

"Your husband doesn't know you're here, does he?" Bucky asked and Katie doesn't reply. "Does anyone know you're here right now?"

"You do." Katie replied and Bucky let out a huff before walking over and sitting on the couch beside the mattress.

"I didn't call you so you would come here." Bucky said and Katie replied as she moved the hat and glanced over to the man. "Seriously, you don't have to be here."

"I know I don't have to be here. I know you didn't ask me to come here. But help isn't always asked, and whether you know it or not, you need something. Mulling around aimlessly isn't getting you anywhere closer to an actual life."

"I stopped hoping for an actual life." Bucky replied standing back to his feet and walking back to the kitchen area.

"Well start because I am going to help you get it." Katie replied before closing her eyes and trying her hand at sleep again. Bucky once again glanced over to the woman and couldn't help the small smile that came to his face.

The next morning, Katie heard the faint sound of Bucky saying something about getting some food, but she was way too exhausted to even reply. He got a non committal wave before leaving the woman.

_Inside her head, in her land of dreams, Katie found herself surrounded by stars. It was a sight that was too impossible to believe was real. Being surrounded by so much dark space, twinkling stars so close as if she could reach out and grab one. This place felt so strange, and yet it felt as if this was where she was meant to be. She suddenly didn't feel alone, and so she turned and finally noticed there was someone sitting beside her._

" _Thanos." she spoke, and a sick, demented smile came to the being's face. "Why am I here?"_

" _Because my children always find their way home." his deep throaty voice spoke, before he erupted in a bone chilling deep laughter._

Katie's eyes snapped open, and the moment they did she heard the sound of someone messing with the door. She quietly lifted herself, standing to her feet as she kept her eyes on the door. She reached for her bag, and slipped a hand inside grabbing the cold steel handle of her glock. Whoever was at the door finally popped it open, and Katie quickly aimed the gun. Suddenly someone appeared that she really didn't expect and the moment he saw her, he looked just as surprised.

"Katie?"

"Steve?"

Katie lowered her gun as she looked over the man who was currently decked out in the complete Captain America gear, something he only does when he expects a battle. Steve walked inside, closing the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?" they both say.

"Where's Bucky?" Steve asks seriously, and Katie looks to him in confusion.

"Why?"

"Katie—" Katie lifts her head to the man who suddenly slips inside the apartment and Steve turns following her eyes to see Bucky.

Bucky carefully walks inside, his eyes on Steve and Katie can see he's ready for whatever fight he thinks is about to happen.

"I know you're nervous." Steve says, and Bucky remains silent. "And you have every reason to be, but—" he finally turns fully to the man, his shield held firmly in hand. "You're lying."

"Lying about what?" Katie asks looking to Steve.

"I wasn't in Vienna." Bucky declares firmly and Katie turns to him in confusion.

"What happened in—" Katie stopped because she suddenly remembered something. "The UN meeting was being held in Vienna." she turned back to Steve. "What happened at that meeting?"

"I didn't do it." Bucky said and Steve turned back to the man. " I don't do that anymore."

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now. And they don't plan on taking you alive." Steve replied and Katie's eyes went wide as she looked toward the door, and then over to the window.

"That's smart. Good strategy." Bucky replies his fist clenching at his side. He glances over to Katie who looks at him confused. "I told you, you shouldn't have come here."

"Shut up." Katie replies before reaching into her back pack, and pulling out another glock. "I just became your back up you idiot."


	4. Chapter 4

Katherine Barton told herself when she had her daughter, that the days of crazy was over. There would be no more putting her life in danger, no more taking unnecessary risks. One day in Bucharest changed all of that, and now she finds herself in a small room, with the walls painted an awful shade of blue staring at herself in a two way mirror.

She tilts her head slightly to see how bad the gash on her forehead is. It stings, but it doesn't look terrible. Her eyes trail down to her dirt covered clothes and the bruises on her knuckles. The entire thing was just so bizarre. German officers burst into Bucky's apartment and bullets went flying. Adrenaline took over, because she can barely even remember much of what happened. By the time everything finally slowed down, Bucky and Steve were gone, somewhere, she doesn't know because she ends up in the middle of the street surrounded by guns all seeming to twitch at the chance of putting her down. And now she's here waiting. Her eyes glance back up to the mirror. She knows there's someone on the other side, someone looking right there staring, studying her. With a shake of her head, she turns and walks back over to the only thing in the small room. She walks over and sits, and folds her hands on the table.

"At some point I hope you figure out the whole torturous wait thing is more annoying than anything." Katie muttered with a yawn. "You know what, I'm just gonna take a nap." the woman dropped her head to the table, closing her eyes and as if on cue the door finally opened, and she heard the sound of heavy footsteps.

"Sit up Banks." came the serious voice of Secretary Ross. Katie let out a heavy sigh, before sitting back in her seat and folding her arms over her chest as she watches the man take a seat across from her. The man silently stares at her as if waiting for a reaction. Katie simply tilts her head before turning back to look over to the two way mirror. "You have no idea how deep in the shit you are right now." Katie turned to the man with a quirked brow. "Conspiring with a terrorist—"

"Before this even begins, where is Bucky?" Katie asks and Ross scoffs with a shake of his head.

"I would worry more about yourself right now Ms. Banks." Ross said and Katie turned away, when he once again called her by a name he knew wasn't hers. "James Buchanan Barnes, set an explosive that killed a dozen world leaders. And then we find him and he's with you. An accomplice."

"You're a sad, sad man General." Katie replies and she can see the slight twitch of his eye at her refusing to use his correct title. "Bucky didn't set an explosive, and I'm not an accomplice to anything. During the UN meeting, Bucky and I were in Bucharest where we were found."

"You know I would be inclined to believe you if I didn't have video evidence placing Mr. Barnes at the scene."

"Well if you have video evidence, then I would have your tech guys going over the footage, because it's fake." Katie replies with a shake of her head. "Whoever really blew up that building wanted you to think Bucky did it, wanted you to go after him and wanted you to bring him here."

"And why would said person want that?"

"You know I don't know but I figure since we're all here, we'll probably find out pretty soon." Katie replied with a shake of her head.

"SHIELD really did a number on you, didn't they." Katie turned meeting his eyes. "Well Ms. Banks I think you should know that you'll never see sun light again, you'll never see your husband, or your daughter." Ross stood to his feet and buttoned his jacket before glancing back over to the woman. "I'm finally gonna bury you." the man turned and headed for the door.

"Proof." Katie finally said and the man stopped and turned to her. "You have a story, implicating Bucky, somehow implicating me. So you have a video proving Bucky set those explosives, what do have on me besides an innocent trip to Bucharest."

"We found you in his apartment!" Ross snapped turning back to her.

"You found me in an apartment alone. Apparently it belonged to Bucky, but you have no proof that I knew that."

"You shot at officers—"

"I shot at men with guns who didn't identify themselves before they decided to spray that apartment with bullets." Katie countered as she looked up to the man's eyes. "Try again. What's my crime?" the Secretary was silent, but the anger was oozing off of him. "Why am I being kept in this room?" the man growled under his breath before turning and storming out of the room. Katie rolled her eyes before once again dropping her head to the table. Her head turned to the watch on her wrist watching the seconds tick away.

Tony was confused. He didn't like to be confused, he didn't like not knowing the ins and outs of everything, but right now Tony paced back and forth in the office where Ross told them to stay put. He glanced over to Steve who sat watching him. He and Sam were brought in just moments earlier with Natasha.

"Explain it to me again." Tony said, still pacing, still trying to wrap his head around the story Steve just told him.

"Tony it doesn't matter how many times he says it, it won't change anything." Natasha spoke instead annoyed as she watched the man. "She was there. This whole time everyone thought she was in danger, she was with Bucky."

"But why?" Tony asked finally stopping and turning to Steve. "She had to have told you something."

"Tony I didn't even know Katie was missing, and when I found her there." Steve shook his head because he too wasn't understanding the situation. "She wasn't in danger." he turned back to Tony with a nod. "And she didn't look like she was forced to be there."

"She went to Bucharest to find Bucky." Natasha stated still trying to piece this together. "How did she even know he was in Bucharest?" the woman shook her head before glancing out the office. "I should go make sure her mouth isn't getting her into any trouble." Natasha stalked out of the office. Sam glanced between the two men, and the hostility was too much even for him.

"And I'm going to go wait in that office." Sam replied before slipping out as well.

Steve glanced over to Tony who shook his head, letting out a deep sigh.

"Maybe she was doing what she always does." Steve said suddenly and Tony turned to him. "Maybe she was trying to save someone. Trying to save Bucky."

"Well she should've been trying to save the people in that building from your old pal Bucky!" Tony snapped before once again pacing. His head felt like it was going to explode, soon Tony finally dropped into one of the seats around the briefing table.

"Tony, she—"

"She's an idiot." Tony replied bluntly, turning to the captain. "Like she's really a complete idiot. She risked everything, everything, and—" Tony shook his head. "I don't even know if I can get her out of this."

"You think she's sitting in a room waiting for you to get her out of this?" Steve asks and Tony looks over to him. "She's like me I guess. I see a situation going south, and I just can't ignore it. I wish I could."

"No you don't."

"No, I don't." Steve replies with a slight smile. "Sometimes—"

"Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth. But I don't wanna see you gone. We need you, Cap." Tony says before reaching over and grabbing the folder from the middle of the table and sliding it over to Steve. "Until further nothing's happen that can't be undone, please... sign. We can make the last 24 hours legit. Barnes gets transferred to an American psych center instead of a Wakanda prison." he shakes his head. "With a lot of begging and pleading, my kitten can return to her farm."

"I'm not saying it's impossible." Steve says looking down to the contract. "But there would have to be safeguards."

"Sure." Tony says with a nod. "Once we put out the PR fire, these documents can be amended. I filed a motion to have you and Wanda reinstated."

"Wanda?" Steve asked in confusion. "What about Wanda?"

Natasha found herself in the room that over look the interrogation room that currently held Katie. She couldn't help the small curl of her lips as she looked into the room to the woman who was practically napping. She wasn't showing any fear, or nervousness which is one of the many lessons taught at SHIELD. When caught by other government agencies you were innocent until proven guilty, and the play died with you.

"I have to let her go." a gruff voice spoke from behind her. She heard the moment he walked inside, but chose not to acknowledge the secretary. "That woman has single handedly caused more damage in the last forty eight hours with cyber terrorist, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiring with a known terrorist and I have nothing to pin on her. I'm being told to let her go."

"That woman in there told the world the sky was falling." Natasha said studying the woman who finally sat up and began rubbing her eyes. She glanced back to the man. "And it was. You're being told to let her go because someone, somewhere above your head doesn't want her locked in a room. They want her out there." she turned back to Katie. "They want her somewhere they think her mother will come for her."

"You think this is about Angelicka Berkeller?" Ross asked and Natasha simply shrugged. Ross walked over to the window and looked out to the woman.

"No, the truth is that woman sitting in there is one of the biggest assets any government agency could ever have and the problem is she knows it." Natasha turned to the man. "We could use her help figuring out what happened last night."

"According to her, Barnes was no where near that meeting." Ross replied with a shake of his head. "She's lying, and I would like to know why."

"Well I doubt you figure out what she's up to with her in that room." Natasha replied and Ross let out a deep sigh.

"Until this investigation is over she stays in this building, and there will be eyes on her at all times. She does not have access to anything with a motherboard." Ross replied before turning to Natasha. "Hell I better not even see her use a calculator, do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Natasha replied and Ross took one final glance toward Katie before muttering something under his breath, and turning and stalking out of the room. Natasha turned back to Katie and just rolled her eyes before stalking out as well.

When Katie heard the door once again open, she noted the high heeled steps that seemed to get closer.

"So are you the bad cop Natasha?" Katie asked opening her eyes and lifting her head to see the woman take up the seat in front of her.

"No, I'm the friend." Natasha said and Katie sat back in her seat with wide eyes. "Not yours, but the man you left on a farm. The man you let worry about you." Katie turned away. "What the hell were you thinking? You have a husband and a daughter and yet you somehow find yourself linked up with a possible terrorist in Bucharest."

"Bucky is not a terrorist." Katie replied turning back to the woman. "Whatever video you have of him it's a lie."

"Well it doesn't matter now."

"Where is he?" Katie asked and Natasha shook her head. "Natasha—"

"Ask about your husband, your daughter. Those are the only things you should worry yourself about." Natasha said. "I mean you have that life you've been fighting for. That life you tore down a whole agency for, and yet it just wasn't enough."

"I love my husband." Katie replied turning back to the woman. "And I love my daughter. What happened with Bucky doesn't change that. Me being in Bucharest was doing what I thought was right."

"And what was that?"

"Being an Avenger. Helping those who need help." Katie replied with a shrug. "For some reason, I thought that's what we did." with that the woman stood to her feet. "Ross doesn't have a case against which is why you're here."

"Fine, you're not charged with anything, but you are to remain at this facility until the Secretary says you are free to go."

"Or until he finds something to pin on me." Katie muttered before walking around the woman toward the door. "Where is Bucky?"

"You are to go no where near Barnes." Natasha replied standing as well and turning to the woman. "I'm not even sure why you would want to. You are to steer clear, keep your head down and maybe you can get out of this without ruining the picture perfect life you want for your daughter." Natasha reached past her to open the door and gestured for her to walk out. Natasha walked out as well and Katie rolled her eyes, but followed. "There is a briefing room upstairs, it's where Steve, Tony and Sam are waiting. That is also where you'll wait."

"You know I would rather not get the third degree once again. Look I get my decisions have not made much sense to anyone, but they made sense to me and I would rather not have to defend myself." Katie replied as they stepped onto an elevator.

"You know the truth is you don't have to defend yourself to anyone here." Natasha replied before taking her phone from her pocket. "You will go to prison if you're seen with this, but you are going to covertly take it from my pocket and excuse yourself to the bathroom where you will call your husband and defend yourself to him." Natasha placed the phone back into the pocket of her jacket and waited until the doors opened. Once they did, both women moved go out, bumping into each seemingly by accident, giving Katie the opportunity to snag Natasha's phone from her pocket and slip it into the waistband of her pants. The pair walked down the hall, when Katie spotted the women's restroom.

"You know what, I have to pee." she said stopping and turning to Natasha who simply nodded before watching the woman head into the restroom while she stood to keep watch.

Once inside, Katie made sure to peek underneath the stalls and was glad that it was empty. With a deep sigh, she walked into one of the stalls and took a seat on the toilet before pulling out the phone. She looked at it for a moment, dreading to even dial his number but she knew she had to.

"Just do it." she muttered before dialing the number and bringing the phone to her ear. She listened to the incessant ringing, a part of her wishing he just didn't answer and she could postpone this conversation for a little while longer, but alas she heard the click and his voice followed soon after.

" _Nat, what the hell is going on?"_ Clint's voice snapped. _"I've been calling you all day. What's going on with Kat?"_

Katie didn't say anything right away, she still felt too guilty, too afraid to be in this inevitable conversation.

" _Nat, what—_ " the man stopped letting out a deep sight. " _Kat_?"

Katie closed her eyes and dropped her head because there was no escaping this. "Hey Bart." She heard the sigh of relief that escaped him and she feels even more guilty for making him worry.

" _What happened Kat? Why did I have to imagine my wife being kidnapped by rogue HYDRA members who probably were torturing her to get information about her mother?"_ Clint asked and Katie couldn't even say a word. " _You gotta tell me something Kat, cus I don't get it. We had a deal. It's us, you and me against everyone else and for the past three days I didn't know where my wife was."_ she still had no words. She was sure nothing she said would make this conversation easier. " _Damnit Katie!"_ Katie opened her eyes because she rarely heard him say her name, and now to hear it with so much hostility only meant he was truly angry. " _You need to explain what the hell happened!"_

"I don't know." was her reply.

 _"You have to do better than that."_ Clint replied. _"I know you. I know every decision you make is carefully thought out, so I have no doubt that you know exactly why you got on a plane to Bucharest to meet Bucky Barnes and right now I need you to tell me_."

"For the past couple of months I've been getting these weird phone calls. Someone would call, I would answer, but they wouldn't say anything." Katie said.

" _And you didn't think to tell me about this_?"

"The calls were harmless, and there was nothing you could do to stop them."

" _I could've talked to them, told them to stop calling my wife before I found them and killed them."_ Clint countered. " _What does this have to do with Bucharest."_

"The calls were from Bucky." Katie replied. "I was riding the elevator, heading to a plane, on my way home and he called again, only this time he finally spoke and he—" Katie shook her head because this was hard to explain.

" _What, he asked you to fly to Bucharest?"_

"Actually no. He didn't ask me to do anything, but I listened to him. Heard the uncertainty in his voice. He was lost and I thought I could help him."

" _So you leaving the country was completely your decision, because you thought you heard something in his voice?"_ Clint asked and Katie shook her head because she knew he wouldn't understand. " _You know all that talk about getting back out there, I thought it was just talk, but it wasn't was it. This, you going off to save this guy was you really choosing that life you want instead of the life you had. With me, with our daughter."_

"That's not fair. There is never a choice, I choose you, I choose Tai, but I can't just stop being me. You weren't on the call, but I was and he needed help and he called me."

" _He hurt your brother, killed hundreds of people, and I'm not even adding in that meeting with the United Nations."_ Clint argued. " _There was absolutely no reason for you to feel obligated to help him."_

"Well sometimes you don't actually need to have an obligation to help someone. Sometimes you just do it." Katie replied. "Look I've been in this bathroom for a while and at some point someone is going to come looking for me and find me with this phone I'm not supposed to have."

" _When are you cleared to come home?"_ Clint asked.

"I don't know. Whenever Ross stops trying to put me in prison." Katie said and she heard the man sigh again. "He has nothing. I'm coming home."

 _"I need you to make sure it stays that way Kat."_ Clint urged and Katie once again closed her eyes and buried her face in her palms. " _I need you to do whatever you need to do to come back to us, understand?"_ Katie didn't say anything for a moment. "Kat—"

"Clint the last thing you will ever have to do is tell me to come home. I don't care where I am and what I'm doing, someway, somehow I will always come back to you and my child." Katie replied and the pair just sat in silence for a few moments. "You called me Katie."

Clint let out a sigh. " _I know, and I didn't like it."_

"Neither did I." there was another beat of silence. "I love you Mr. Barton." his response wasn't immediate, and the woman lifted her head with worry.

" _You have absolutely no idea how much I love you Mrs. Barton."_ Was Clint's reply and a small smile came to Katie's face. _"Just come home because I have no problems coming to get you."_

"I'm very much aware of that." Katie replied. "I should go, I'll talk to you later if I'm able to steal a phone again."

" _Well I'll be here when you do_." Clint replied. _"I will see you soon Kat_."

"Yeah you will. Give Tai a big hug and a kiss from me."

With that the woman ended the call and once again dropped her face to her palms. She wasn't even sure how she got herself into this situation. She had every intent to go home and just live her life, but something happened that even she can't explain.

Suddenly she heard a very throaty laughter, so familiar and yet so bone chilling. When she lifted her head she was no longer in that small bathroom stall, but she was surrounded by a sea of stars. The laughter snapped her from her shock and she turned to see the monster that usually haunts her dreams. She always found it strange how distinct his features always were, there was never a change. It didn't matter if she were asleep or awake, but that face was something she could never forget.

"I'm not sleeping." she spoke suddenly and she once again heard him laugh. "I don't think." she turned back out to the stars, feeling that same comfort. She remembers the faint thought popping into her head about wishing she was here just for a little while, but she didn't expect it to actually happen. "How—" she turned back to the being that always seemed to cause a chill down her spine. "You're not real."

"And yet here I am." he replied, a very sadistic smile pulling at his lips. She watched as his eyes trailed over her and she followed them suddenly struck with something glowing on her chest. She pulled her shirt to see whatever it was, was somehow beneath her skin. She placed a hand over her heart before looking back up to the being. "It is you."

It was the loud banging that brought Katie back to reality. Back to that small bathroom stall confused and kind of scared. She jumped to her feet and pulled open the door to see Natasha.

"I called you and you didn't answer. Were you asleep?" Natasha asked and Katie's eyes trailed around the stall.

"It's the only thing that makes sense." Katie replied turning back to the woman and handing her back the phone.

"Well you can sleep when you get to the office." Natasha said sliding the phone into her pocket and heading out of the bathroom. For a moment Katie stood there, before following after her.

When they finally arrived outside the door, they heard raised voices from the other side. Both stood there before sharing a look.

"That's most likely your doing, so you should go in." Natasha said before turning and walking away.

"Chicken!" Katie called after her before turning back to the door. With a deep breath she reached forward and pushed open the door walking into the completely transparent room, and the moment she did all arguments stopped. Both men turned to her, but it was Tony who actually closed the distance He stood there just staring at her, silent judgement written all over his face.

"Are you alright?" asked Steve who couldn't wait for Tony any longer to finally speak. "I left you, I'm—"

"Don't Steve, I'm fully capable of taking care of myself." Katie replied giving the man a nod before turning back to Tony who had yet to utter a word.

"What were you—"

"What were you thinking?" Tony interrupted the man and Katie simply shrugged.

"Well I wasn't Tony. That's the kind of person I am right, I just do things, stupid things, dangerous things, without thinking."

"You think this is funny? Think this is some kind of joke? Do you have any idea what you've done? The position you've put yourself in. Ross thinks you're some kind of terrorist."

"Ross has always thought I was some kind of terrorist Tony." Katie countered with a shake of her head. "Now he just thinks he has some kind of proof."

"Doesn't he?" Tony asked. "He finds you shacked up with the murderer of the century and you don't think that warrants all sorts of bells and whistles."

"What were you even doing there?" Steve asked and Katie shook her head.

"I gave him my number a while ago, after the whole murder helecarriers and he was trying to make sense of what HYDRA did to him." Katie replied turning back to Tony. "I didn't expect him to call again. But he did."

"Asking for your help?" Tony asked and Katie shook her head.

"No." she replied as she ran a hand across her face. "He didn't ask anything from me, he just told me that it was hard dealing with the fall out of remembering who he was mixed with the memories of what he was turned into. He was lost and I know how that feels." she turned back to Tony. "I was lost, and then someone found me."

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to nod in understanding. Where I'm supposed to hug you and be grateful that you're safe and sound after nearly getting yourself killed."

"I don't know what you're supposed to do Tony. I thought I did. I thought you and me...we got each other, but I do one thing you don't like and you tell me to leave."

"That one thing could be the most important thing you could ever do." Tony replied with a shake of his head before reaching over to the table and picking up the accords. "You see this. It's just words on paper, but underneath is a promise. A promise that we will do whatever it takes to make sure that body count doesn't get as high as it has."

"Tony, a piece of paper doesn't control that!" Katie snapped angrily as she pointed to the paper. "When we're out there, and the shit hits the fan it's not a piece of paper that is going to tell me to go left when deep down in my gut I know I should go right. It's not a piece of paper that's going control the bad guys who don't fit into the specific perameters of the accords. It is our job to save lives, not a piece of paper."

"Well then we're failing at our job!" Tony snapped with just as much veracity as he tossed the accords back to the table. "People are dead, people who didn't need to die, because we weren't thinking before we acted. Much like you deciding to hop on a plane to visit a known murderer. It was stupid as shit!"

"Tony!" Steve said deciding to intervene. He took a step closer and Katie simply held up a hand to stop him.

"Don't Steve." Katie said, her eyes never leaving the dark look of Tony's. "That's not how we work. Tony has feelings, opinions about my decision making and he has the right to say them. Just like I have the right to say I think he's a coward for signing that piece of paper."

"Really?" the man replied with a shake of his head. "You know what I can't be in this room anymore. It's just—" he turned to Katie with a look that broke her heart a little bit. He didn't say another word before storming out of the room. Katie closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, trying her best to not show how painful it was to watch him walk away from her. When she opened her eyes she looked over to see Steve walk over to her.

"I know it was stupid Steve, I know it made no sense, but to me—"

"I know." Steve replied and Katie let out a sigh. "Just, when you get a call for help that takes you half way around the world, call someone. Call me, because despite appearances, we are still a team and we have each others backs. Deal?"

"Deal." Katie replied before he suddenly brought the woman into a hug. "Why are you hugging me?"

"Because you need a hug." Steve replied and Katie let out a snort before bringing her arms around the man as well. He was kind of right.

"He didn't do this Steve." Katie whispered.

"I know." came Steve's whispered reply. "Something just isn't right about all of this." suddenly the door opened and the pair pulled apart to turning to see Sam walking inside.

"Sorry, I was getting weird looks out there." Sam said walking over.

"It probably won't be any different in here." Katie joked before walking around and taking a seat at the table. She dropped her face to her palms, letting out a deep breath.

"Is she alright?" Sam whispered over to Steve as the pair looked over to her.

"I'm still not sure." Steve replied as he turned to look out of office waiting for someone to finally tell them something about what was going with Bucky.

Clint had long ended the call with his wife that actually helped him breathe a little bit better, and yet he was still nervous. He wanted to believe that she would be on a plane back home, back with him so they could get back to their normal, but for some reason he knew that wasn't going to happen. Clint stood on the porch, cell phone still in hand as if waiting for another call. He heard the creak of the screen door behind him, and soon Matthew appeared beside him.

"Ross has Rinny." Matthew informed. "She was found in some apartment that belonged to Bucky Barnes, and when officers attempted to arrest him, she aided in his escape, even firing at officers." Clint turned to Matthew who looked more serious then he'd even seen the man. "You already knew didnt you?" Clint only nodded in reply. "I'm still trying to figure out how my sister could help the man who tortured me." he turned to Clint with a shrug. " Like, how could she?" Clint let out a sigh and turned back to the always peaceful sight of his farm.

"You know I think I've come to grips with the fact that my wife's brain is probably the darkness, and most unpredictable place in this world." Clint replied with a slight smile. "I can't even imagine the levels of complexity and madness that happens in there everyday." he looked back over to his brother in law. "What I do know is that despite the craziness, despite the things that don't make sense to anyone else, to her there is reason. We can't always see that reason which makes understanding her, which makes forgiving her sometimes that much harder."

"I don't know if I could forgive this." Matthew replied with a shake of his head. "This was reckless, this was just plain idiotic. And now she's put herself in the middle of a possible terrorist threat." he looked back over to Clint. "Why? Because she was trying to save someone who can't be saved."

"You know I'm just as angry at her right now, maybe even more than you, but there is one thing I know about that woman and it's that she stopped believing that people couldn't be saved a long time ago." Clint turned back to the house and let out a sigh. "How much have you told them?"

"Just the facts. She was an idiot, went to Bucharest and now she's a prisoner of the government." Matthew replied. "Why?"

"Nothing, just something feels off about them being here. It seems like they're hiding something." he said turning back to Matthew who shrugged as he turned away. "Maybe they're not the only ones." Matthew turned to Clint with a quirked brow.

"What?" Matthew replied. "Dude, I'm CIA. I'm always hiding something." he replied with a shake of his head when suddenly his phone rang. He slipped it from his pocket and glanced at the number. "Work." he said before skipping down the porch steps disappearing around the house.

When Mattew finally got out of ear shot, he quickly answered the phone, bringing it to his ear.

"Agent Hill."

" _Still not an Agent, Agent Black_." Maria replied, the annoyance very clear in her tone. _"I got your very vague message, what can I do for you."_

"I need whatever information I can get about Cynthia Chambers' time with SHIELD." Matthew said. Maria didn't say anything right away and the man let out a sigh. "I want to believe the sound of my voice has just rendered you speechless, but I doubt that's the case."

" _You know I think it's the fact that you're calling me, talking about a person I have never heard of, with an Agency that no longer exists on a line that I highly doubt is secure."_

"Fine, I will meet you in person, but I need that information." Matthew replied and Maria let out a loud sigh.

" _Look Matthew, I get being in the CIA, you've gotten accustomed to getting_ _your way. I personally blame Jackson for making you think that you were some kind of golden boy. The truth is you're no different than any other CIA dickhead who thinks they walk on water."_

"Hill enough with the flirty banter, I will sleep with you when this is all done, but right now things are happening and I need that information."

" _I'm hanging up now_." Hill replied.

And so the line went dead. Matthew growled in frustration before dropping the phone from his ear. He turned back to the house as the unbelievable story of something that can't possibly be true played over and over in his head. He suddenly turned at the sound of footsteps, not really expecting Martin to be the one walking toward him.

"What are you doing out here?" Matthew asked, his tone short, making his attitude known before the conversation could even begin.

"Came to see if you had any news on my daughter." Martin says cautiously walking over to the man.

"No more than what I told you earlier." Matthew replied. "At the moment she's safe. We just hope she doesn't do anything stupid that can change that." not wanting to go any further with this conversation, Matthew attempted to walk past the man back to the house, but Martin took a step to the side to block his path.

"We should talk."

"I don't think so, since the last conversation we had kind of exploded my brain. So I think for the duration of your stay, me and you don't speak until I can verify any of the shit you told me."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Martin asked. "The only people who know about this is me and my wife back in the house and she doesn't even know I told you."

"Why did you tell me?" Matthew asked. "What was the point in telling me anything about this if you had not a shred of evidence to show me."

"Because at some point we're going to have to leave, and when we do we're going to need someone here, someone who can watch her, who can protect her."

"You know, Clint probably would've been a better choice in my opinion."

"He also would've tossed both of us out the moment I told him the story that is impossible to believe." Martin replied with a shake of his head. "Look this isn't something we can talk about and it's definitely not something you can take to the CIA. Me and Cindy will figure out the truth and when we do, we will come clean, but until we do this needs to stay under wraps."

"As under wraps as it can be I guess." Matthew muttered before brushing past the man, bumping his shoulder and not even sparing a glance back.

At some point Katie started counting the people walking by the office. They all couldn't help but glance over to Avengers in a box and so she decided to blatantly stare right back. Soon a new face appeared in the conference room.

"A receipt for your gear." the woman said handing some papers to Sam.

"Bird costume?" the man read with obvious offense. "C'mon!"

"Hey, I didn't write it." the woman said turning to Katie. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you." the woman held out her hand. "Agent Sharon Carter."

"SHIELD turned CIA." Katie replied looking down to the woman's hand. "No offense, but I'm being held here against my will, I'm not going to shake your hand." Sharon smiled, but dropped her hand back to her side. "I'm going to assume you know who I am, read some thick file with my name on it, right?"

"Well yeah, but I've also met your brother." Sharon replied with a slight chuckle. "And he is a talker."

"That he is." Katie replied with a nod. She watched as the woman turned and covertly walked over, her hand reaching for something and the next thing she knows a video feeds she's sure they're not supposed to be seeing is suddenly playing. Katie stood to her feet and walked closer, her eyes on Bucky who seems to be trapped inside some chair that looked too familiar. It reminded her too much of the Specialist who could tie you to a chair and absolutely nothing you did could get you out.

" _I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few questions."_ an accented voice spoke and Katie tilted her head slightly to really focus in on the voice. " _Do you know where you are, James?_ " Bucky didn't say a word, the hard look on his face never wavering. " _I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."_

"Who is that?" Katie asked turning to Sharon. "Who is that talking?"

"Uh, a Doctor Theo Broussard." Sharon replied, "A psychiatrist hired to question him, why?" Katie turned back to the screen.

" _My name is Bucky_." the man replied finally answering the question.

"What are you thinking?" Steve asked turning to Katie whose eyes stay on the screen.

"I don't know yet." Katie replied with a shake of her head. She listened closely to the conversation, listened to each man speak.

"Why would the task force release this photo to begin with?" she heard Steve ask, and she glanced over to him to see his eyes on Sharon for the answer.

"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?" Sharon answered the most logical thing she could think of.

"Yes, because when there is a crazy homicidal maniac running loose, you want as many people looking at him as possible." Katie replied before glancing over to Steve. "How many of those unnecessary casualties do think that could've possibly created?" she shook her head before turning back to the monitor. "But it got the intended results. Him, right here."

"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. It got 7 million people looking for the Winter soldier." Steve added glancing back to the confused look of Sharon Carter. She was still trying to understand where they were going with this.

"You're saying someone tried to frame him?" Sharon asked.

"No, Steve is still confused about how weird and coincidental how this is suddenly happening." Katie replied still staring at the monitor. "I, on the other hand know for a fact that he was framed, since I was actually with him."

"No offense, but you were with him for a couple of hours. Can you honestly say that it is impossible for him to have been in Vienna, set up those explosives and then flew back to Bucharest where he didn't expect to run into you?" Sharon asked and Katie turned away because logically speaking it was possible. With a remote detonator the explosives could've have been planted at any point and time.

"You're right, it's possible." Katie replied with a shrug. "I still think he was framed and I'm sure if someone would let me actually prove it, so will all of you."

"And how would we do that?" Sharon asked and Katie turned back to her.

"Get me that video and a computer." she replied and Sharon just shook her head.

"Yeah, I believe that would cost me my job, and I'm not taking that risk." Sharon said and Katie rolled her eyes as she turned back to the monitor.

" _Tell me Bucky. You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"_ the interrogator asked.

"Where is this guy from?" Katie asked looking over to Sharon.

"Switzerland I believe." Sharon answered, her eyes going back to the screen as well. "The head of the JCTC hired him on to talk with Mr. Barnes."

"Who's the deputy?"

"Everett Ross." Sharon replied noticing the shake of Katie's head as she turned back to the interrogation.

"Of course it is. Well then Agent Carter I'm going to need to get a call to Mr. Ross." Katie replies as she closely watches the screen.

"And tell him what exactly?"

"That Swiss doctor Theo Broussard is possibly dead or being held captive and that man doing an almost perfect Swiss accent is an imposter." Katie replied and all eyes turn to her. Katie's eyes went to Natasha who she noticed just outside the office, listening to the interrogation as well. The assassin turned, meeting Katie's eyes before quickly taking out her cell phone.

"And how would you know—" before Agent Carter could even finish the question the entire place went dark, and red lights began flashing. The agent's eyes turned to both Katie and Steve who only wanted to know one thing. "Sub-level 5, east wing." without needing anything else the pair bolted out of the room.

Katie attempted to follow Steve through the dark halls, but she suddenly spotted Natasha heading a totally different direction and she stopped. It would never fail that Natasha Romanoff usually had the intel that no else usually had and so Katie turned and began following behind the woman.

"How does an imposter just waltz into a government facility?" Katie asked from behind the woman. Natasha glanced back to the woman for a moment before pushing through to the stairwell.

"I'll be sure to ask whoever is in charge of this shit storm." Natasha replied as the woman practically jumping down the stairs. Both women were out of a breath the moment they reached the first floor, but that didn't seem to stop them as they heard gun fire from the other side of the door. Natasha reached forward, pulling open the door and the first thing they noticed were bodies lining the floor. Katie knelt down to feel for a pulse.

"Still alive." she whispered as she stood back to her feet. "Who did this?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess." Natasha replied as she followed the sound of commotion.

"How would Bucky even—" Katie stopped as she followed behind the woman. "The imposter let him go. But Bucky wouldn't hurt these people."

"Then explain that." Natasha said glancing around the corner and Katie took a cautious step forward where she saw Tony and Bucky engaged in a brutal fight. She noticed the iron glove Tony had that he clasped over the gun Bucky had in his hand and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Bucky then threw a punch knocking Tony out. Katie didn't even think before running over to Tony.

"Hey." she said, dropping down to her knees beside Tony and turning him over so she could see his face. He was unconscious, so she tried to shake him a bit to wake him up. "Tony, wake up." she placed a hand on the side of his face and dropped her forehead to his. "Tony, please wake up."

"You almost sound like you care." Tony's voice croaked and Katie lifted her head to see his eyes open. He could see the flash of pain that passed over her eyes, before she attempted to stand, but he grabbed her arm. "Fine, I'll admit that was was dick thing to say."

"It was." Katie replied looking over just as Bucky slammed Natasha on one of the tables. Out of nowhere another man appeared, and with a hard kick caused Bucky to stumble back. "How do I know him?" she helped Tony to his feet and the man glanced over to the fight as well.

"Prince T'Challa." Tony said. "I hear he has a thing with cats." Katie turned to him with a quirked brow and he simply shrugged. Tony turned, and Katie followed his eyes to see the men had somehow made it to the level above them. Katie moved to try to help, but Tony caught her arm.

"What are you doing?" Katie asked trying to pull from the man's grasp.

"No what are you doing?" Tony asked. "I mean you're good, but you taking on a psychotic super soldier is way too dangerous."

"Tony, this...him doing this just doesn't make any sense. I think that interrogator did something to make this happen."

"That may be so, but it doesn't change the fact that he seems to want to murder anyone who gets in his way. I doubt that you will be any different." Tony countered.

"You almost sound like you care." Katie replied finally able to pull from his grasp.

"I do, but for my god kid who I figure still needs a living, breathing mother." Tony replied and both turned just as the prince landed on the floor. He stood up, glancing around before meeting the eyes of Katie and Tony.

"Where is he?" Katie asked taking a step forward and T'Challa just shook his head before running off. "Fuck!" Katie began spinning around, trying to think of where Bucky would go. A sudden idea popped in her head and without a second thought she went running, ignoring Tony who tried calling after her.

There would be way too many people outside, and right now Bucky just needed to get away without any more hassle. That's what lead Katie upstairs she hoped lead to the roof. She didn't think she would make it up all those damn stairs, but the moment she spotted the door that would lead to her destination, her feet picked up speed. She pushed through the door and saw Bucky headed to a helicopter that was sitting on the roof.

"Bucky!" she called his name, but he didn't stop. "Bucky, what's going on?!" the man finally stopped and turned to her and the moment she saw his eyes she knew there was something different about him. "You're not Bucky."

"No, I'm not." he growled and Katie tilted her head slightly, taking another cautious step forward.

"You've been activated." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "What is your mission?" Bucky didn't reply before turning and heading to the helicopter. "Was ist deine Mission, Soldat?!" Bucky only opened the door, before turning back to the woman. "Bucky—" he turned to her and began walking toward her. "what are you—" she began backing away, sure she wouldn't be able to out run him if he chased her, and even more sure she probably wouldn't be able to take him on in a fight. "Hey, I know I can't beat you, but it will not stop me from trying." he reached for her, and she backed away, before throwing a punch. He only grabbed her arm before jerking her forward, bringing their bodies together. Katie looked up to his eyes and could see the emptiness behind them. "I know you're in there." without warning, the man grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder and began carrying her toward the plane. "No! Put me down!" she tried to pull out of his grasp, but he was too strong. The man tossed her inside the helicopter before climbing inside himself and starting the engine. "This isn't happening!" she tried to climb over him, only for him to push her so hard, that she hit her head on the side panel.

After that things got blurry. She could feel them moving, but not in the way they should. Then there was a crash before they were moving again, but it felt more like falling. The last things she think she remembers is water.

Lots and lots of water.


	5. Chapter 5

I am Groot."

The voice was so tiny, but it caught Katie's ear. When she opened her eyes, there standing was a tiny tree like being with a smile on his face as he stared a her.

"I am Groot." it once again spoke, one of his tiny limbs touching Katie's fingers. Katie glanced around, trying to figure out where she was and how she could've possibly gotten here. She was on the space ship, the one she remembers from her dreams. "I am Groot."

"I know Groot." Katie replied turning to the little tree with a smile. "And I am dreaming, only this one like my others doesn't make any sense."

"I ammmm Groot." he once again said and this time some how Katie understood something beyond the words.

"What do you mean this is real?" she asked as she felt the side of her head that was pounding. "This can't be real, because you're a talking tree." she glanced back to him. "Smaller than I remember though."

"I am Groot." he replied somberly.

"I know, I saw what you did and it was very brave." Katie replied with a smile. "You saved your friends."

"I am Groot." he said with a smile.

"What do you mean you saved me too?"

A bright light seemed to jerk Katie from the dream. The light was followed by something cold touching her head and her eyes snapped open to see the worried eyes of Steve Rogers looking down to her.

"Oh thank goodness." he said the moment he saw her eyes. "How do you feel?"

"Like my head is about to explode." Katie grimaced trying to sit up, but Steve held her in place.

"Wait, not so fast. You hit your head pretty hard." Steve said carefully helping the woman to sit up. Katie placed her hand on the ice pack Steve held against her head.

"What the hell happened?" Katie asked looking back to Steve.

"Bucky tried to get away, and it seemed like he wanted to take you with him." Steve replied with a shake of his head. "Still have no idea why, but I was able to stop him."

"How exactly?"

"There are perks to being super strong." Steve replied unconsciously rubbing his sore arms. "I did kind of cause the plane to crash and fall off the building, and into the water." Katie eyes went wide. "Hey, I pulled you out this time." Katie turned away with a shake of her head.

"Where is Bucky?" Katie asked and Steve nudged his head. That's when Katie began looking around the old, beat up building they were in. "Better question, where are we?" it looked like some kind of car repair garage, but the amount of dust and trash in the place only meant it wasn't still in business.

"Some place safe." Steve said standing to his feet. He held out a hand to Katie, helping her to stand as well. "Sam is watching Bucky."

"He's saying anything yet?"

"Not to me." Steve replied and Katie sighed before following after the man. "Why do you think he dragged you along with him?"

"No idea, my only guess is Bucky was still in there trying to get help." Katie replied when she spotted Sam. The man turned to them as they walked inside, Katie's eyes going to Bucky who sat on the floor, his arm trapped underneath some kind of machine so he couldn't move.

"How's your head?" Sam asked and Katie glanced over to him before tossing him the ice pack.

"It's been better." Katie replied before turning to Bucky, who too was awake and looking at her. She took a step to get closer, but Steve caught her arm.

"I'm pretty sure your husband is going to kill me, there is no reason to add gas to the flame." Steve said turning to Bucky. "Which Bucky am I talking to?" the man didn't say anything, he dropped his head and Katie took another step forward.

"Er fragte Sie eine Frage, Soldat." Katie spoke and Sam and Steve shared a look before turning back to the woman.

"Ich bin kein Soldat." Bucky replied lifting his head to meet the woman's eyes. He looked up noticing the cut on her head. "I did that?"

"You did." Katie replied glancing over to his arm that was trapped. "Excuse us if we don't take your word for it, but we're going to need more than that." she turned back to the man. Bucky glanced over to Steve.

"Your mother's name is Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." Bucky said and Steve let out a sigh.

"You can't read that in any museum." Steve replied and Sam scoffed.

"Just like that, we're suppose to be cool?" Sam asked stepping in, hoping he isn't the only one hesitant about just forgiving every thing that just happened.

"What did I do?" Bucky asked turning back to Katie who was still standing there, studying him.

"Well you didn't make yourself look innocent." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "The room is kind of spinning so I'm just going to—" she lowered herself to the floor, folding her legs in front of her.

"I knew this would happen." Bucky sighed with a shake of his head. "Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do is say the god damn words."

"He activated the Winter Soldier program that's apparently still embedded inside of you?" Katie asked and the man simply nodded.

"Who is he?" Steve asked and Bucky glanced over with a shake of his head.

"I don't know." was the only answer he had to the question.

"People are dead. The bombing. The set up. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than "I don't know." Steve said seriously. They all waited for Bucky to give them something.

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where." Bucky answered and Katie dropped her head and let out a sigh.

"Why would he want to know that?"

"Because he's a bad guy." Katie answered lifting her head and standing back to her feet. "Also maybe he wanted to look for the others."

"What others?" Sam asked.

"Others like me." Bucky added. "I'm not the only Winter Soldier." Steve glanced from Katie back to Bucky, so many questions now picking around his brain.

"Who are they?"

"The most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in the HYDRA history. And that was before the serum." Bucky replied and Steve turned to Katie with a quirked brow.

"You knew about this?" Steve asked and Katie nodded.

"I knew bits and pieces, and you actually know some of it too." Katie replied taking a step toward the man. "That HYDRA facility Bucky is talking about was actually masquerading as a SHIELD facility. The prison for the worst of the worse."

"The BLACK?" Steve asked and Katie nodded.

"I'm sorry, for those of us who haven't been an Avenger since it's inception." Sam asked looking from Katie to Steve, hoping one of them could explain what the hell was happening.

"I was taken to this underground prison in Serbia." Katie replied turning back to Bucky and kneeling in front of him. "We over at SHIELD called it the BLACK. It was pretty much one of the many myths that swirled around that place. But it exists, and not only that, but it was actually a front for something even more sinister."

"How did you know about the soldiers?" Steve asked and Katie sighed.

"Because when you're locked in a room and some sick bastard messes with your head you do whatever you have to, to get to the truth behind it all. I dug into SHIELD files as deep as I could and I didn't get much, but I did find a file about an operation to create the best of the best soldiers." Katie replied. " I assumed they were trying to recreate more like Steve, but I should've figured anyone being kept in the BLACK wouldn't be the next Captain America."

"Wait, when we found you—"

"The Specialist had begun the procedure." Katie replied her eyes still on Bucky. "I think I was going to be one of them."

"You should've stayed under my bed." Bucky said with a slight smile and Katie lightly chuckled before standing to her feet.

"So are they all like you?" Sam asked Bucky who looked over and shook his head.

"Worse." he answered.

"The doctor, can he control them?" Steve asked and Bucky slightly shook his head.

"Enough."

"He said he wanted to see an empire fall."

"With these guys, he can do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in 1 night. You'd never see them coming."

"Except we want to see them coming." Katie replied as she closed her eyes and began trying to work this problem in her head.

"If we call Tony—"

"Oh he won't believe us." Sam interrupted and Steve nodded.

"Even if he did, who knows if the Accords will let him help." Steve replied and Katie scoffed. "We're on our own."

"Maybe not." Sam replied. "I know a guy." he slipped his phone from his pocket. "Give me an hour." without another word the man rushed out of there. Steve let out a sigh before turning to Katie who stood, eyes closed but mouth moving.

"What are you thinking, Katie?" Steve asked and the woman opened her eyes and turned to him.

"The Winter Soldier Program is just that. A string of code embeded into these people—" she turned to Bucky. "Into you."

"Are you saying you can shut the program down?" Steve asked and Katie shrugged.

"After all this time, it's ingrain so to speak, but maybe there is a way, but I wouldn't know until I actually take a look at it." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "I wonder the chances of finding a computer in here." the woman glanced around. "I'm just going to go wander around, holler if we're under attack." and with that the woman wandered out of the room. Steve turned back to Bucky, whose eyes watched Katie until she was gone. He turned back to Steve, finally noticing the confusion in his old friend's face.

"I don't get it. He activated you, you were no longer Bucky Barnes, you were the Winter Soldier, and yet you attempted to take her where ever you were about to go." Steve said and Bucky turned away.

"When it happens, I blank out. I'm no longer me, I'm—" Bucky let out a deep sigh. "I'm him, but this time I remember hearing her voice." he looked back to Steve. "There is something about her."

"Trust me, I know." Steve sighed, falling back to lean against the wall.

"I don't think you do." Bucky replied. "That program is supposed to wipe everything that is James Buchanan Barnes away, and replace him with a Soldier whose only purpose is completing his mission." the man glanced back to the door. "And then I heard her voice and it was like she opened a door that was suppose to stay locked." he turned back to Steve. "And I have no idea how she did it."

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think she does either." Steve replied seeing how confused the man was with all of this.

"It doesn't make me feel better."

Clint gripped his phone as he listened to Natasha recount the events after he spoke with Katie. He thought they were close to finally getting back to their lives, but apparently Bucky was released and Katie was no where to be found.

"Say something Barton." Natasha sighed when she was finished.

" _What do you want me to say?"_ Clint asked. He stood in the middle of the farm looking over to the house. " _What am I supposed to say in this moment?"_

"I could think of a couple of words, but they're probably not suitable for my goddaughter's ears."

" _I'm not in the house. The moment the phone rang, I just knew something was wrong. She couldn't let this go."_

"She can't let anything go. She's got it in her head that Bucky needs saving and she's digging herself deeper and deeper in a hole she's not going to be able to get herself out of."

" _Is she right, is Bucky being set up?"_

"Even if he is, he just bulldozed his way out of here, taking down federal agents. Ross wants him brought in, along with Katie, Steve and Sam." Natasha let out a sigh.

"Just ask me."

"Have you heard from her?" Clint let out a dry chuckle as he shook his head. "I can't believe I just asked you that, but I did. Barton—"

"I'm hanging up now. Look Matt should be headed your way. He's upset so keep an eye on him." Clint replied before pulling the phone from his ear, and ending the call.

Natasha let out another sigh as she pulled the phone from her ear and turned back to Tony who stood waiting.

"Has she called him?"

"Did you really expect him to answer that question even if she did?" Natasha asked with a shake of her head as she dropped back to her seat "I can't believe I really asked him to throw his wife under the bus."

"Better under a bus than in front of bullets." Tony replied with a shake of his head. "I don't even get her anymore. She was always smart, logical and this—this isn't logical."

"Nothing that woman did was logical Tony." Natasha said as the man glanced over to her. "It's why SHIELD hired her. Hell it's why you were drawn to her in the first place." the woman turned and Tony followed her eyes to Secretary Ross who stepped inside the conference room.

"And I don't suppose you have any idea where they are." the Secretary asked.

"We will." Tony assured with a nod. "GSG-9's got the borders covered. Recons flying 24/7. They'll get a hit. We'll handle it."

"You don't get it, Stark." Ross scoffed with a shake of his head. "It's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective. I'm putting special ops on this."

"And what happens when the shooting starts, let them kill Steve Rogers?" Natasha asked. "Oh I know, let them kill the woman who isn't a super soldier."

"If we are provoked." The man replied without hesitation. " Barnes would have been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers and Banks. There are dead people who would be alive now. Feel free to check my math."

"All due respect, you're not going to solve this with boys in bullet proof vests. You got to let us bring then in."

"And how will that end any differently from the last time?" Ross asked.

"Because this time I won't be wearing Loafers and a silk suit." Tony replied. "72 hours, guaranteed."

"36 hours. Barnes. Rogers. Wilson and Banks." Ross ordered before turning to leave, but stopped and looked back to the man. "Banks does not get away with this." Tony simply gave a nod before watching the man leave.

"My arm is numb." Tony said dropping to a seat. Natasha stood to her feet and walked over, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Natasha asked and Tony glanced over to her with a weak smile.

"Always. 36 hours." Tony sighed. "You know I'm starting think the Secretary has a personal vendetta against my Kitten."

"Starting to think?" Natasha asked with a shake of her head. "Katie snuck into a military base, and gave information to a man he'd been investigating. She refused to tell him what she knew, even when he tossed her into a prison and tried to scare the truth out of her." the woman shook her head. "He was forced to release her when his commanding officers found out he was holding a civilian without any charges."

"So he's just chomping at the bit to toss her into a cell." Tony sighed sliding a hand over his tired eyes. "I won't be able to save her from this."

"We won't be able to save any of them from this. Especially ourselves. We're seriously understaffed."

"Oh, yeah. It would be great if we had a hulk right about now." Tony looks over to the woman who just rolls her eyes. "Any shot?"

"No. You really think he'd be on our side?" the woman asked and Tony shook his head because he already knew the answer to that question.

"I know." suddenly the man's eyes go wide and Natasha could practically see the light bulb over his head.

"I have an idea." Natasha says looking down to the man.

"Me too." Tony replies. "Where's yours?"

"Downstairs. Where's yours?" she felt uneasy as a smile came to the man's face.

They needed to move. That was pretty much the consensus once Sam returned. Once they felt Bucky could be trusted they uncuffed him.

"So what's the next move?" Sam asked, keeping a wary eye on Bucky. He glanced around the shop before turning back to Steve. "And where's Katie?"

"She's somewhere around here looking for a computer." Steve said glancing around as well. "We need to move out. The longer we're in one place too long, the greater chance of us getting caught."

"And where would we be going?" Sam asked and Steve looked over to the man.

"Only person on the outside I can trust at the moment. I made a call to Sharon Carter, and she agreed to meet us."

"So you trust the people we just escaped from?"

"No, just her." Steve replied before looking up as Katie walked back into the room. "Where did you go?"

"Well I went looking for a computer, but then stopped when I realized something." Katie said with a shake of her head. "I haven't seen my daughter in days." Steve let out a sigh as Katie shook her head. "I have to go."

"Go where?" Sam asked walking over. "We're all at the top of lists of people to be found dead or alive. It's dangerous for you to just head home like nothing's happened."

"I know." Katie closed her eyes for a moment before looking back up to Steve. "I have an idea."

"Is it dangerous?" Steve asked and Katie looked at him with a quirked brow. "More dangerous than what we've done already."

"Dangerous, no. Risky yes." Katie replied. "But I can't run around without seeing Bart or Tai. They have to know I'm alright. Plus maybe I can recruit another player for our team."

"You think Clint would go for that?"

"I think I can usually talk him into a lot of things." Katie replied before looking down to her wrist watch. "It's all a matter of if he will listen. Look if this guy is headed to Siberia, we need to beat him there and try to at least destroy the program."

"That would be easier if the entire government and two Avengers weren't on our ass." Sam said and Katie looked over to him with a nod.

"Which is why we need Sharon." Steve said. "We need someone on the inside."

"Fine, contact her, let me know the next move. I will call Bart, and somehow find a way to rescue our Scarlett Witch." Katie looked over to Sam giving him a fist bump before glancing over to Bucky who didn't say much. "If someone you don't know talks to you, cover your ears and sing the Star Spangle Banner." the woman turned and headed out the door.

"That woman is all sorts of crazy." Sam said with a shake of his head. "But I'm glad she's on our side with this."

"Me too." Steve replied before turning to Bucky. "We should probably find a car."

Clint stood outside for a few moments longer, not really sure how to explain what was happening. He didn't even know where he would start, but he knew he couldn't just stand here all day. He'd only taken a single step before his phone rang again. He looked down to the unknown number and quickly brought it to his ear. No one said anything right away, and that's how he knew it was her.

"You have a good explanation Kat. I'm standing here after everything you told me on our last call, everything you promised, I have to believe you broke all of it for a good reason. Now tell me what it was?"

"Faith." was all Katie said. "I have faith that Bucky is innocent. Faith that I can help stop the next big fuck up to hit our nation. I have faith that I can help prevent lots of lives from being taken."

"What are you talking about?"

"How much do you know?" Katie asked.

"Someone broke into the CIA hideout, spoke some words to Bucky and then he went on a killing spree."

"That man who snuck in, before he muttered those words, questioned Bucky about the facility he was kept in Siberia."

"Siberia, what—" Clint stopped because there was one place he knew was in Siberia. "BLACK."

"Yeah. Apparently he wanted to know about the Winter Soldier program."

"He wanted to know about Bucky?"

"No, he wanted to know about the other subjects who were supposed to be like Bucky. The subjects that are still there right now."

"You're telling me that some maniac set Bucky up to get him locked up so he could get close enough to learn about the location of Operation BLACK."

"It sounds crazy, but that's what all the pieces are looking like. I know I promised that I would let this go, that I would just come home, but if this guy gets his hands on these soldiers, these super soldiers that are practically unstoppable, then I believe there would be worst trouble ahead for us."

"And Steve and Sam couldn't do this alone?"

"It's a computer program. One that will probably need to be destroyed or even stopped if this gets too far. In that instance, they would need me, and right now I need you."

"Kat—"

"We need allies. In case we get there and there are a bunch of Winter soldiers traipsing around. We're going to need the Avengers, or at least as many as we can get."

"Kat—"

"I know what you're going to say. That you can't just drop everything on one of my theories, but I need you to trust me Bart. This could get bad really quick and we could use all the help we can get to stop it."

"Can I speak now?" Clint asked finally and Katie sighed.

"Sure."

"Kat, I believe you."

"You do?" the woman asked genuinely surprised. "All of it."

"Yeah, all of it. I know you and I know even though you only have bits and pieces, it's usually right in the end."

"Why do I feel like there's a but in there somewhere?"

"Because you're there and you're asking me to be there, and I gotta wonder if we're both gone, who's gonna be here with our daughter?" Clint asked and he heard the woman once again sigh. "Kat—"

"I told myself I would be back, that I wouldn't be gone long because I didn't want her to ever feel like I'd abandoned her. And now...what kind of a mother am I?"

"The kind that tries to rid the world of all the bad stuff so it'll never get to your daughter." Clint replied. "You are a great mother, and your daughter will know that. I just—" he turned back to the house at the sound of laughter and he remembered that Cynthia and Martin were here. "I may have an idea. Where do you want to meet?"

"Well, the thing is, I may need you to make a couple of stops before you get to me."

Matthew Banks was clearly annoyed as he stood in the small questioning room. He'd arrived just moments earlier to speak with Secretary Ross, but the moment he flashed his badge he was escorted to this room left to wait.

The man found himself pacing, when the door suddenly pushed open and the Secretary finally appeared. Matthew turned to the man, standing up straight and holding out a hand to the man.

"Mr. Secretary, thanks for meeting with me. I know—"

"Do you know where your sister is, Agent Banks?" Ross asked not even bothering to shake the man's hand.

"I wouldn't be here if I knew where my sister was, sir." Matthew replied realizing the handshake wasn't happening, so he dropped his hand to his side. "Look sir I'm here to help and make this retrieval as smooth as possible, with as little bullets as possible."

"I have a list of fatalities from that UN meeting, another list of agents who have been hospitalized by a terrorist who your sister, Steve Rogers, and Sam Wilson are all helping. I don't care about making this smooth, as long as it gets done. You want a peace mission, I suggest you tag along with Stark and Ms. Romanoff. They're going to try to ring this in without the bullets, but I gave them 36 hours to get it done. After that, I get involved. And when I get involved in searching for terrorists, I don't count bullets." Matthew simply gave a nod before walking around the man toward the door. "Agent Black." Matthew stopped and turned back to Ross.

"Haven't gone by that in a long time sir."

"I know, I've read your file. Read about Operation Titan and what happened to your men." Ross watched the man turn slightly, before turning back to him. "The day you join the CIA, you made an oath to your country. I know your sister—"

"I know the oath sir. I was trained in priorities, so I know where my sister ranks when it comes to taking down a terrorist."

"So you won't mind if your line is monitored."

"You should've probably asked that before you actually started monitoring it." Matthew replied with a smile. "Sir." he gave a nod before turning and stepping out of the room.

The smile dropped from his face the moment he stalked down the halls. He dialed Tony's number as he walked, only stopping when he spotted a familiar face up ahead.

"Hey Spider Ninja!" the moment she hears the name, Natasha stops and turns glaring at the man. "I heard you have a mission, and you may need some help."

"I'm not sure you heard but this is team stop Bucky and all his followers. That includes your sister." Natasha replied as she continued down the hall, stepping into the elevator. Matthew quickly followed.

"I know." Matthew said. "My sister is aiding a terrorist. A man who nearly killed me." he shook his head at the thought. It was the single thought that ran rampant in his mind. He really couldn't believe his sister would do such a thing.

"She doesn't think he's guilty." Natasha looked over to the man who she could tell was holding way too much emotion to be focused completely on the goal of this mission. "She thinks he's a victim of SHEILD and of HYDRA and she's attempting to help him. Maybe she's right." Matthew turned to the woman with a quirked brow. "We have dead diplomats, and only one suspect. We need to find them, because if we don't then people with guns and grenades will."

"When do we leave?" Matthew asked and Natasha shook her head as she stepped from the elevator. "What?"

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Natasha asked stopping and turning to the man. "This fight it's too close to home. I'm pretty sure none of us will be the same after it. If you come along you could lose whatever relationship you were hoping to have with your sister and her family."

"You're asking me about my loyalty, but she's the one who did this. I don't care if Bucky or the Winter Soldier was mind fucked, to her he's supposed to be the man that almost killed her brother and for that she's not supposed put her life on the line for him." Matthew shook his head as he glanced around the hall. "When does this happen?"

"I have to go talk to someone, but Tony should be calling soon when there is a location." Natasha replied.

"Good, I have time to grab some stuff." Matthew turned back to the woman. "Call me when you have a location." and with that the man turned and walked away. Natasha watched him for a moment with a shake of his head. She knew everything that came out of that man's mouth was just hurt feelings and not someone interested in the mission. She just hoped he knew what he was getting himself into. The woman turned, stepping onto the elevator and closing her eyes on the ride down. Even she couldn't believe how far they've come. She liked their little dynamic, where they all got along and now she wasn't even sure if there would be a team after all of this. Once the elevator stopped and the doors slid open, Natasha opened her eyes, and stalked off of the elevator, her eyes scanning the floor until she spotted the woman she'd been looking for. She didn't hesitate to walk over to the woman who glanced up in confusion.

"Agent Carter, we need to talk." Natasha said and the Agent stood to her feet.

"About?" Sharon asked.

"Your little meeting you think no one knows about with Mr. Rogers and his band of misfits." Natasha watched the woman glance around to see if anyone had heard. She turned back to Natasha, nudging her head to the side so they can speak privately. Natasha followed the woman across the office, to one of the meeting rooms where Sharon closed the door behind them. "Look—"

"You guys were a team once." Sharon said turning to the woman. "We all saw it. Saw how in the face of unknown danger you looked it right in the face and took it down together. Why has that changed now? You saw what that impostor did, heard what he said to Bucky and how quickly he changed. A man who can sneak into a CIA facility, get close to a confined suspect, can probably make the world believe one man killed a room full of diplomats when he really didn't."

"That may be so, but the truth is what you believe, what I believe will not stop Ross from sending an army after them. You're right we are a team, it's why it's us that need to go after them. You don't get it, us or them someone is coming after them. It's just if it's us, they're more likely to come out the other end alive." Sharon turned away with a slight shake of her head. She knew Natasha was right, new that there was no clean get away with this. "Agent Carter—" Sharon turned back to the woman, knowing the one thing she didn't want to do, she would have to do. She took a deep breath and hoped this was the right decision.

It was late when Katie finally got the call from Steve. It was time to make the move to the airport and Katie couldn't shake the sudden nerves that struck her that morning. Time was dwindling away and she just knew the simple plan of getting on a plane, flying to a faraway place to stop a bad guy from unleashing other bad guys, wouldn't be so simple.

At the moment, maybe she looked too conspicuous. She sat on a park bench, hood over her head, and sunglasses firmly placed over her eyes. She took a sip from her cup that held the worst coffee she'd ever tasted, just as she felt the seat beside her shift.

"You're being hunted by the CIA and you want to meet in the day light, in the middle of a park." A familiar voice spoke, and she couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips. She didn't know how much she needed to hear that voice, this close to her until this moment. She turned to see her husband, baseball cap on his head as he seemed to be studying her

"I'm fine." she said, just as he reached up and slightly pushed the hood from her head noticing the scar on her forehead. He turned meeting her eyes, waiting for an explanation. "It was just a minor accident...in a helicopter."

"That makes me feel so much better Kat." he replies sliding his hand to her cheek, and she couldn't help but to lean into his touch. Clint didn't know how much he needed this moment, needing to touch her, to just see her. He'd been so scared with so many scenarios playing over and over in his head about all the bad things that could be happening. A part of him thought he wouldn't have this moment.

"You pick up our friends?" Katie asks, and Clint can't help but chuckle at the question. "How did it go?"

"Piece of cake." Clint said with a shake of his head. "I mean it was just an alien being and a ex con." he looked back over to his wife. "Does Steve know what he's doing?"

"Absolutely not." Katie replied leaning forward, bringing their lips closer. "I sort of thought that was the team motto." Clint's lips captured hers in a slow, searing kiss. They almost forgot their lives, almost forgot they were sitting on a park bench. Almost forgot there was a government agency probably looking for them. When the need for air was too strong, they pulled apart and with air came reality, Their reality. "I am going to make this right."

"Kat—"

"I know what you're going to say, but I know you wish I could be one of those people who leave well enough alone." she looked up meeting Clint's eyes, placing a hand on his cheek. "I shouldn't have went to that meeting. I should have stayed with my husband and our adorable daughter and our married sex, and I should have just been happy. We wouldn't be here if I could have just accepted that my life was fine the way it was."

"Kat, I don't wish you were anyone else but who you are. And you are a woman who does what ever she can to right the wrongs of the world, and I knew that before I married you. It's also one of the reasons why I'm so crazy about you. So I'm here, here to help you right this wrong and get back to our lives." Katie leaned in stealing another kiss before standing to her feet.

"Alright, we have to go." Clint stood to his feet, taking her hand and leading her through the park. "So, I don't really know a whole lot about Sam's friend." she looked over to her husband. "What's the verdict?"

"Interesting choice, but I guess in times of crisis, you take what you can get." Clint said with a shrug. "Apparently he worked with Dr. Hank Pym."

"Seriously, he worked with Hank?" Clint turned with a quirked brow. "I interned at Pym Technologies in college. That guy was a genius. I guess if he worked with Hank, there has to be something special about him." Katie noticed the white van and the moment they got close, Wanda jumped out of the van, pulling her into a hug. "Sorry I wasn't at the prison break, but I'm sure my Hawk was able to get the job done."

"He did." Wanda said pulling from the hug and glancing over to Clint. "Gave some sage advice I needed to hear." she turned back to Katie. "He filled me in on what's happening. Do you think we can really make it to this facility before it's too late?"

"Depends on the types of obstacles we run into." Katie replies before glancing around the woman to the van. "Where's Sam's friend?"

"Oh he's sleeping, has been for quite some time." Wanda said glancing back as well. "He seems like a strange choice for an ally." she looked between Katie and Clint. "Are you sure he's the person you were meant to retrieve."

"Sam seems to think he has a set of skills we could use." Katie sighs before glancing down to her watch. "And at the moment we don't have time for substitutions."

The ride to the airport was quiet, everything to this point that needed to be said was already out there and all that was left was the possibilities their decisions could lead to. Katie sat with her head against the window, her eyes closed still going over every detail that lead them to this moment

"You're thinking." Clint said and Katie opened her eyes and looked over to the man. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I just feel like we know so much, but there's still the whole "why". I mean why did this guy risk his life to sneak into a CIA facility, why frame Bucky." she shook her head. "With a little digging, he could've figured out the location of the BLACK without pulling us into this." she looked over to her husband. "I just feel like the motive behind all of this is what's most important."

"Well I guess we can ask the bastard when we find him." Clint said with a smile before turning back to the road. They didn't expect to arrive so soon, but here they were. Pulling into the parking structure, spotting Steve, Sam and Bucky all waiting.

Clint, and Wanda stepped out of the car, while Katie looked back to the man still asleep behind her. She shook her head with a sigh.

"Scott!" the man's eyes suddenly snapped open and he jumped up, looking around, before turning to Katie.

"What time zone is this?" he asked and Katie looked with a quirked brow. "Hey, I know you, you're—" the man pointed at her. "Hank has a picture in his office with you and him, he's less gray, you were at his company."

"That is a very old picture." Katie says looking over the man. "I used to work with Hank when I was in college, but I pushed a button and he had me removed from the program."

"What button?"

"The Pym Particles, button." Katie says looking out to where Steve and Clint were talking. "I may have stuck my nose into something he wanted to be kept hidden." she looked back over to Scott. "But if he's working with you then I can only assume he finally grew a pair."

"You know he did." Scott replied before the side door slid open and he turned seeing yet another familiar face. "Captain America!" he jumped out of the car and walked over to Steve who held out his hand.

"Mr. Lang." Steve greeted which only made Scott smile even more.

"It's an honor." Scott said, vigorously shaking Steve's hand. "I'm shaking your hand too long. Wow. This is awesome. Captain America." he finally let go of Steve's hand before glancing over to Bucky. "I know you too, you're great. Jeez." he turned back to Steve. "Look, I wanted to say. I know you know a lot of super people, so... Thanks for thinking of me." he looked over noticing Sam. "Hey man."

"What's up tic tac." Sam greeted.

"Good to see you. Look. What happened last time was a..."

"It was a great audition, but it'll... it'll never happen again." Sam said and Scott simply gave a nod.

"Did he tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked and Scott turned and gave a nod to the man.

"Something about some... psycho assassins."

"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Scott replied. Steve glanced over to the van where Katie still sat, looking forward, obviously in her head. Clint looked at the man before following his eyes and he was about to go over, but Steve caught his arm. Clint gave the man a nod before watching the man walk over to Katie.

"You know I think I've been around you long enough to know that look usually means you have something." Steve said and Katie turned to him with a slight smile.

"No, this look means I have nothing and I hate it." she glancing past the man to the others. "We're missing a lot of pieces to this puzzle, and putting more lives in the mix." she looked over to her husband who was talking to Sam. "I don't like not knowing what exactly we're dealing with."

"How do you fix that?" Steve asked and Katie turned back to him.

"I need to break more laws, dig my self even deeper in this hole." she replied with another deep sigh. "We need to get moving, the longer we stay in one place, the more likely someone spots half the Avengers at the airport."

"I got a chopper lining up." Clint called and they both turned to him.

"You do?" Katie asked stepping out of the van.

"I still got tricks up my sleeve wife." the man replied with a smile, when suddenly they heard a German voice over the speaker.

"They're evacuating the airport." Bucky announces and that's when they knew it was too late to get away clean.

"Stark." Sam said and Katie shook her head as she turned around.

"Of course it is." she muttered.

"Suit up." Steve orders and Katie whips around in confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asks and they all turned to her. "What's about to happen right now?"

"The only thing that can happen to get us on that plane to stop a crazy person." Steve replied glancing to the others who parted to get suited in their gear. Clint, Steve and Katie just stood there for a moment. "Katie-"

"We fight the bad guys, Steve." Katie interrupted. "We don't fight our friends."

"And what do you think they're here to do?" Steve asked. "I don't want to do this either, and I will do whatever it takes for it not to, but I'm not going to be naive enough to know that it couldn't. Look I'm not going to force you to go out there, but we have to go." with that Steve turned, going over to the car to get his own gear.

"Kat, he's right." Clint said and the woman turned to him. "They're here to stop us, and from what you've told me we can't be stopped right now. If we are then something is going to be unleashed that we may not be able to stop." Katie turned away with a shake of her head. "Look I brought weapons, there's a vest and—"

"I'm not going to need it." Katie replied turning to the man. "I don't plan to fight any of my friends today." she looked over to the man. "Look I get it, I know what's going to happen, and I also know what's at risk. So, go, get suited up." she looked around. "We need to find those jets." she turned back to Clint, placing a hand on his chest. "Don't die." with that the woman turned and walked away from him.

"Where is she going?" Steve asks looking over to Clint.

"I think she's going to try to use her words." the archer replied before turning and grabbing his gear from the van. "I'm going up high to keep my eyes on her." Wanda followed after him, while Sam and Bucky headed for the terminal. Steve walked over to the car, grabbing his shield before rushing for the stairs.

When he reached the bottom, he spotted Katie just standing there. When he got closer he noticed her eyes were closed.

"You ready for this?" Steve asked and Katie let out a long breath before looking over to the man. "Yeah, me neither, c'mon." both turned running out to the airfield, heading toward the helicopter when suddenly some sort of electric dart is shot into it. Both stop and look up to see Tony and Rhodes, all suited in their iron suit, flying down to them.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport." Tony said, his face plate falling back and revealing his face. Katie notices the black eye he's now sporting. He turns to Rhodes, who watches them closely. "Don't you just feel weird?"

"Definitely weird."

"Tony, hear me out. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this." Steve tried, but Tony shook his head when suddenly they turned just as a man dropped to the right of them in a black, cat like suit.

"Captain," the man's accented voice speaks.

"Your highness." Steve replies before turning back to Tony."

"Anyways. Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago." Tony says moving around Rhodes. "Can you help a brother out?"

"Wait—" Katie says finally able to speak. "You're Ross' bitches right now? He gives an order and you hop, skip and jump to follow?" she shook her head. "I think I have to write that down as something I never expected from Tony Stark. You're developing quite the list."

"This isn't funny." Tony says glaring over to the woman. "You have no idea what you're doing."

"Steve just told you that you're after the wrong guy and if your head wasn’t so far up the Secretary's ass, you might see that."

"Well I'm not very inclined to believe Steve. His judgment's askew. You know old war buddies and all that." Tony says glancing over to the man. "Your buddy killed innocent people yesterday!"

"Then how about we have him sign his own accords, since that's how our sins get washed away." Katie replied and Tony turned to her with a hard glare. "Tony, I know you're driven by so much guilt right now, and you have this need to make it all better, to follow the rules like a good Iron Man, but I need you to hear my voice right now." Katie took a step toward the man, pulling away from Steve who attempted to stop her. "Something bad is going to happen if you waste our time with this bullshit."

"There's only one way out of this." Katie turns to see Natasha who somehow appeared out of nowhere. "Steve can't punch his way out of this, and you can't talk your way out." Katie turned back to Tony, the only person she thought for sure she could get through to.

"I'm standing right here asking for you to go against everything you think you know and just believe me." Katie said and Tony looked at her for a moment. He could feel the doubt, that slight doubt he'd had since all of this begun, but he needed facts, and what proof they had made her request impossible. "C'mon, this is me Tony. When the world doesn't believe me, when I can't count on anyone, I'm supposed to be able to count on you. You told me that. I need you to believe me." She shook her head, a tear suddenly falling from her eye. "Which you can't do because—" she shook her head again, seeing the truth of where they stood, before turning and just walking away.

"I got her." Natasha said walking after the woman.

"All right, I've run out of patience." Tony says before lifting his head. "Underoos!" Steve turned to follow after Katie when suddenly, something pulled his shield from his hands before his hands are bound with some sort of web like material. They all stopped and looked up to the person in the red suit holding the Shield.

"You're such an asshole." Katie says looking over to Tony with a shake of her head before pointing to the boy in the suit. "That is a child!"

"Hey, I'm not that young." the boy said before glancing over to Steve. "Uh, hi, Cap—Captain America, I'm Spider man."

"You've been busy." Steve says.

"And you've been a complete idiot. Rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave. A safe place." Tony says looking over to Katie with a shake of his head. "What were you thinking? I'm trying to keep... I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"You did that when you signed." Steve replied and Tony scoffed at the accusation.

"Alright, I'm done. You're gonna turn Barnes over and you're gonna come with us. NOW!" Tony snapped angrily. "Because it's us! We're squaded JSOC, guys, with no compunction about being impolite. Come on, man." he turned to Katie. "Don't you want to get home to your daughter? Just come with us and—"

"Who are you?" Katie asked with a shake of her head. "No, like seriously Tony, did they do something to you, have they been giving you that funny koolaid?" Natasha tried to grab her, and Katie pushed her away. "I'm not fighting you!" she looked over to Tony. "These lines we drew, us believing the truth and you believing what you think is true, I was fine with that because hey everyone has an opinion. But this, you wanting to harm us to bring us in, I am not fine with that and I promise you that if you go through with this I will never forgive you."

"And you think I'm the one who needs to be forgiven?" Tony asks when suddenly Steve holds up his hands and an arrow flies, tearing the webs. Steve quickly turned to Katie who gave a nod, before he turned and ran back toward the terminal. Soon Scott appeared, jumping beside Steve, handing him his shield.

"I believe this belongs to you Captain America." The man announces, as Steve takes the shield. The move seemed to spur everyone into action.

Natasha quickly wrapped an arm around Katie's neck, but Katie whipped her head back hitting the woman, and loosening her grip enough to pull free.

"Don't do this. You have way too much to lose." Natasha says and Katie shakes her head.

"When will you start paying attention?" Katie asks the woman. "I don't help terrorists Natasha, never have and I never will. There is a serious threat to our nation, so for this one time please just believe me the first time." Natasha looked at her for a moment before looking over the woman's shoulder. Katie turned, her eyes going wide at the sight of her baby brother standing there with a gun aimed right at her. Katie turned back to Natasha who turned away. "My brother, you—"

"Is that who I am?" Matthew asked and Katie turned back to face him. "You can go, I will get her on the plane." he glanced over to Natasha who didn't move. "All hell is breaking loose back there, you should go." Natasha seemed hesitant, very sure that the man had no handle on this situation. She looked back over to Katie, who now refused to look at her. Without another word, Natasha turned and ran back to the battle behind her. "You know I thought—" Matthew shook his head. "You were my sister. You and me, together through everything. We face everything together, and that monster you're so intent on protecting, he hurt me and that should be reason enough for you not to become his shield."

"You don't get it." Katie says taking a step toward her brother. "That thing that did that to you, that wasn't Bucky, that—"

"Was something HYDRA created. I know, but remember Donnie back in fifth grade, his dad was an alcoholic and his mom was an addict and he use to always try to beat me up and everyone knew that's why he was such a bully. It didn't stop you from kicking the crap out of him for messing with me. You are supposed to take my side."

"I love you Mattie. I always have and I always will. I don't know if that's what you're questioning right now, but you shouldn't."

"Then explain what this is, Rinny. Cause none of us understand."

"Bucky didn't do the things he's being accused of." Katie replied with a shrug. "Well he kicked the crap out of those agents because of another bad guy, but the truth is this is all a trick and you're falling for it."

"How do you know you're not the one being mislead right now?" Matthew asked. "How do you know you're not the one seeing what you want to see?"

"Because I don't want to see any of it. I don't want to be in this situation!"

"Then why are you! You were good, you had this life with a husband and my adorable niece and you chose, what, to play the hero?" Matthew, pulled handcuffs from behind him and inched toward Katie. "I don't even care, because it doesn't change this. You're a fugitive, and it's my job to take you in." The moment the man was close enough, Katie grabbed his arm, before turning and locking his wrist under her arm. The gun shot a few times before she threw her elbow back in to his stomach before dropping and sliding her leg under his feet, knocking him to the ground. She kicked the gun from his reach before picking it up in her hand. His darkened glare looked up to her.

"You're upset, I get it. But if you point a gun at me again, I will really kick your ass." she dismantled the gun, tossing the pieces aside before looking at a sight she couldn't in a million years imagine ever happening. Her friends...no her family were engaged in a brutal battle and it didn't look like it was going to stop. "This can't happen." she began walking toward the mayhem, not flinching at the dribris falling, or the explosives around her.

"Rinny!" Matthew jumped to his feet about to go after her, when his eyes went to the sky only now noticing strange clouds starting to move over them. "What the hell?"

Katie wasn't sure how she could stop this, but she knew she had to. Her plan was thwarted by something suddenly wrapping around her ankles, making her trip. She looked up to once again see the young man in the red suit hovering above her.

"Stay." he ordered.

"Does your aunt know where you are right now Peter?!" she asked and the eyes on his mask seem to widen slightly. "You're in over your head kid, and you don't even know it."

"Doing the right thing is never over my head." Peter replied dropping to the ground beside her. "Mr. Stark explained it all—"

"Tony didn't explain it all because he refuses to see it all." Katie says sitting up and attempting to pull herself free. Suddenly, Tony dropped in front of her, nudging his head for Peter to go, which he did. "Stop this!"

"I didn't start this." Tony says walking over to the woman. "You and your buddies decided to aid and abed a terrorist. We're trying to stop you." he reached down grabbing her shoulder and jerking her to her feet. "I'm taking you in and I will let Ross go nuts with whatever he wants to do with you."

"You know what I don't get?" Katie asked trying to pull from his grasp. "Why you can't even attempt to seeing this from the other side? What if you're wrong?"

"And what if I'm not?" he asked, his eyes lifting to the sky at the strike of sudden thunder. It's when he noticed the clouds above them, noticed their odd color. "What the hell?" Katie suddenly pulled from his grasp, before dropping to the ground and pulling her knife from her boot and cutting the webs from her ankles. She jumped back to her feet, before letting her eyes scan around and seeing the the jets in the hangar across the airfield. "What is this? Vision is this you?!" Soon Vision came to the ground in front of Katie who turned to the man with a glare.

"You don't understand." Vision said and Katie shook her head at his words.

"I don't and I will never understand why this is happening." she looked back at the battle still going strong and it made her want to cry. She turned back to Vision, her eyes going to the stone glowing in his head and she tilted her head slightly, something about it calming her. "Something bad is going to happen." she met his eyes. "I will stop it." There was a crash and they turned to see Scott unnaturally giant. Tony flew up to try to stop him. Vision turned back to Katie and she stared at him as if daring him to try to stop her. Without a word, he too flew up in an effort to stop the giant. Katie let out a deep breath before turning and heading for the hangar. Her feet came to a sliding halt as she watched her husband before knocked to the ground by T'Challa who apparently had a thing for dressing like a black cat. She watched as he lifted his foot to stomp on Clint, but before he could she ran over jumping up and wrapping her legs around his neck, and with a jerk of her legs, they both fell to the ground. "We haven't met, but I think you should know you don't touch my husband." suddenly he reached up a hand, and before she knew it the claws of his gloves scratched her leg. Katie hissed, her legs loosening enough for the man to get free. She jumped to her feet before he could attack, but his eyes looked to something else. Katie turned to see Steve and Bucky heading toward the hangar. She didn't expect T'Challa to follow and when he did, she was right behind him. The watchtower above the hangar began falling and neither of them stopped until the went inside. Suddenly T'Challa is shot with a volt of electricity and to Katie's surprise it came from Natasha's voltage braclet.

"Go!" she said looking to Steve and Bucky. Steve gave a nod before turning and spotting Katie. Natasha looked over to the woman as well and sighed. "This better be worth it! Everything you're risking, this better be worth it."

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't." Katie said before she, Steve and Bucky headed for the jet. Once inside, Katie quickly typed in their coordinates and soon they were moving and in the air. "I need a comlink." she turned to Steve who pulled his from his ear and handed it to her. She quickly placed it in her ear. "Hey Hawk, you ok?"

"I would be better if I were looking at you right now." Clint replied breathlessly, his eyes on the jet getting further away from him. "Kat—"

"I am going to make this right." she said simply.

"Just come back to me." he said, the seriousness in his voice not hard to miss. "Kat."

"Like anything could stop me. I just have to go possibly save the world, piece of cake, right?" she lightly laughed before turning and looking out the window to see Rhodey following close behind. "I have to go, I—" suddenly she watched as Rhodes stopped flying and simply began falling. "What? Rhodes! What happened?"

"Vision tried to stop Sam, but missed and hit Rhodes." Clint replied his eyes watching the man fall. Tony was right behind him, but it didn't seem he was quick enough and only was able to get a front row seat to the man hitting the ground. "He—" Clint only hears static. "Kat?" he looks up to the sky to see the jet so far out of sight. It suddenly begins to rain, and his eyes look up to the storm none of them even expected.


	6. Chapter 6

Confusion was something Vision felt more and more since appearing on this planet. Emotions he didn't quite understand seeming to take control of him, move him at their will. It's the only way he could explain almost killing Colonel Rhodes. He wasn't sure what he was feeling. He assumed he was doing the right thing, bringing order back to the world by helping Tony. He didn't expect the look on Katie's face when she saw him. How the distrust from her made the doubt ignite in himself. He also didn't expect the sudden emotions of holding an injured Wanda in his arms after the fight. Vision wasn't sure what was happening to him. He stood on the other side of a glass watching a machine x-ray Rhodes.

"Vision how did this happen?" the voice of Tony pulled Vision from his thoughts. It was the question even Vision wondered about the moment it happened.

"I got distracted." the being replied, his eyes still on the colonel.

"I didn't think that was possible." Tony scoffed with a shake of his head as he glanced over through to glass to his friend. The whole thing scared him. Rhodes wasn't responsive when he was brought in and Tony couldn't help but feel guilty for bringing him into this.

"Neither did I." Vision replied and Tony turned back to him. Studied him for a moment before shaking his head and walking from the room.

The moment the doctor finally came out to him, Tony dropped his head at the news that his friend would probably be paralyzed from the drop. Once the doctor walked away, Tony felt eyes on him and turned to see Natasha standing there and he let out a sigh. He turned away for a moment before going over to the woman.

They ended up standing on a balcony of the facility, looking out to the clear sky that differed from the storm that was once over their heads.

"The doctor said he shattered L4 to S1. Extreme laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis." Tony recounted, still not able to really believe how bad it got. He assumed this battle wouldn't be fatal, but now his friend was looking at the possibility of not being able to walk on his own.

"Steve's not going to stop and I know Sparrow won't either." Natasha turned to the cold glared etched on the man's face."If you don't either, then Rhodey is going to be the best case scenario."

"You let them go, Nat." Tony says with a shake of his head turning to her.

"We played this wrong." was the assassin's reply and Tony scoffed.

"We?" he turned away from her once again. "Boy. It must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? Sticks in the DNA."

"You can't tell me you don't feel it." Natasha replied. "Fine, Steve might not be seeing this clearly, maybe he's being taken for a ride by his old buddy Bucky, but Katie does not have any preconceived notions about the man."

"No, she wants to blame SHIELD and HYDRA even though they're no longer around." Tony replied with a shake of his head. "She's still fighting a war that was over a long time ago."

"You know I've been on the opposite side of one of her wars. She says something crazy that no one believes and then she turns out to be right." Natasha shook her head, turning away from the man. "You know what's most annoying is that she didn't throw back in our faces. We turned our back on her and she didn't say I told you so. And now—"

"Now, we're not going be naive enough to believe every conspiracy she thinks is real, is actually real. C'mon there is a video."

"And if it has been doctored?" Natasha asked and Tony sighed. "She told me out there that she doesn't help terrorists. She never have and she never will."

"T'Challa told Ross what you did." Tony said changing the subject. "They're going to be coming for you."

"I'm not the one who should be watching my back." the woman replied before turning and walking away.

There was a beep that came from Tony's watch and he glanced down to the notification. He quickly pressed it.

"What am I looking at FRIDAY?" the man asked.

"Priority upload from Berlin." the program replied. "It was just uploaded to my hard drive."

"Uploaded by who?" Tony asked as he already began heading for the elevator.

"I'm not supposed to tell you." the program responded and Tony stopped, and really looked at what was sent. "Fire up the chopper."

Katie kept her eyes peeled out the plane not really paying attention to anything really happening around her. The image of the battle, and then of Rhodey being injured seemed to be playing over and over again.

"You're bleeding." Bucky said looking over Katie's leg that seemed to be dripping blood. He looked back up to the woman who didn't even acknowledge that he spoke. Steve turned to her, before looking down to her leg as well.

"Katie—" he looked up to the woman's face, her eyes just staring at the clouds in front of them. He reached forward, pushing on the auto pilot before unbuckling his seat belt about to go to the woman, until she finally spoke.

"I'm fine." Katie said, still not turning to the man.

"I know what happened—"

"What happened should not have happened." she said with a shake of her head. "What happened served no purpose at all but to cause more separation between us." she looked over to the man. "If this guy wants an empire to fall, then he's succeeding." there was a sudden beep and Katie turned back around and pulled up the quinjet's holo computer. "Did he watch it FRIDAY?"

"Yes, he has seen the news."

"And what's he doing?"

"I am unable to reveal the actions of my creator." the program replied and Katie let out a sigh before typing a few keys and ending the transmission. She unclasped her seat belt before standing to her feet and walking to the back of the plane in search of a first aid kit.

"Do you need help?" Bucky asked and Katie looked over to him and just shook her head. The ride once again fell into silence. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Katie asked as she attempted to clean the cuts on her thighs. She looked over to the man who looked guilty.

"Because I'm not worth this trouble." Bucky replied dropping his head. "Those were your friends and—"

"Bucky, shut up." the woman replied and the man looked back over to her. "Those people, they're still our friends. They're a little misguided, but they will see what's really in front of them." she looked back down to the cuts on her thighs. "You're not a bad person Bucky, because you were forced to do bad things. For some reason no one can seem to understand that." she shook her head and looked over to him. "I mean we've all taken orders. We've all been told to do something that seemed questionable, that didn't seem right, but we did them. They get stuck in the black and white when this world is full of gray." the woman let out a sigh before leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "My facial recon came back and I was able to identify our fake doctor."

"And, who is it?" Steve asked glancing over to her.

"His name is Colonel Helmut Zemo. Sokovian intelligence. Zemo ran EKO Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad." Katie recounted. "News that could've been so much helpful before all the shit hit the fan."

"Bucky, does the name sound familiar?" Steve asked.

"No, I don't think I've ever heard of him."

"Well he knows who you are. They found the real doctor dead in a trunk with a full on James Barnes disguise with him." Katie replies. "I sent all the information to Tony in hopes he can relay it to Ross who can finally stop trying to hunt us down and finally go after this guy before he lets all hell break loose."

The fact that Secretary Ross had a prison at sea should surprise Tony, but it doesn't. Right now the prison wasn't his concern. It was the fact that Katie and Steve were right and Bucky really was framed for the explosion at the UN.

The moment he stepped from the plane, he headed inside in search of Ross. When he spotted the man, he rushed over not even bothering with greetings.

"So? Did you get the files?" Tony asked and the secretary didn't say anything. "Let's reroute the satellites, and start facial scanning for this Zemo guy."

"You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you even after that fiasco in Leipzig?" Ross said with a shake of his head. "You're lucky you're not in one of these cells." Tony glanced over to a monitor his eyes going wide at the sight of Wanda in an blue jump suit, her arms bound to her body and there wasn't a light behind her eyes as if she were sedated.

"What's happens to them now?" Tony asked looking over to the Secretary who didn't say a word. "You know every conversation I have with you, I get the feeling you're just not saying something. Those files I sent you were right, and I think you know it, but you can't let them go." Tony glanced around the monitors before seeing Clint sitting with his head in his palms. "Especially him, you can't let him go because you know she's going to come for him."

"If you excuse me Mr. Stark, I have a terrorist to find." and without another word, the man turned and left the command center. Tony turned back to the monitors and sighed at the sight of his team members locked in cages because he thought he was doing the right thing. The moment he saw the video evidence that everything had been a lie, he finally admitted how pointless all of this fighting had been. Rhodey may never walk again because they were mislead into not trusting their friends.

He had to make this right, and the first step was finding the real person behind all of this and getting his friends out of here. Tony turned and headed down a long hall until he found a steel door. He looked over to the guard standing outside, before watching the man scan a badge. Soon the doors slide open and Tony walks into a scene that seems too surreal. He eyes his friends trapped behind glass cells.

"The futurist is here!" a voice yells and Tony lets out a sigh as he turns to Clint. "The futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether your like it or not."

"Oh give me a break, I had no idea they would put you in here, c'mon."

"Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony." Clint shook his head at the man.

"Yeah. But, not some super max floating ocean pokey. You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for..." Tony trailed off as he looked around to the cells once again.

"Criminals?" Clint asked and Tony turned back to the man's glare. "Criminals is the word I think you're searching for right, and didn't use to mean me, Sam and Wanda. But here we are."

"Because you broke the law." Tony said and Clint turned waving him off. "Because she broke the law." at the mention of his wife, Clint tuned a very dark look back to the man. "She—"

"How about you stop talking about my wife while I'm on this side of the glass you're on that side." Clint said seriously. "You thought she'd follow you anywhere. Thought when you called her to New York, and had her listen to some speech about how the Avengers needed to be controlled, you thought she would just go along with it because it was you asking." Tony turned away with a shake of his head. "It's why you couldn't believe her...why you wouldn't believe her. Because no matter how much sense she was making, She didn't choose you, so you weren't going to choose her."

"I did this for all of us. Including her, including you." Tony said pointing to the man. "You have a family, a daughter. Did you think of her before you went out and chose the wrong side?"

"Well I married her so that automatically puts me on whatever side she's on. You know what's funny is you know her." Clint said with a smirk. "You know you don't want to be on the other side of a war she's fighting." Tony simply shook his head before turning and deciding to try to talk to Sam. "Well look at it this way, at least when I bring up the topic of a new Godfather, I don't think she will fight me on it." Tony stopped walking and looked over to the man who just shook his head before turning and taking the seat on his cot.

"Pym always said to never trust a Stark." Tony turned to the man with a quirked brow. He still didn't get the man's name. All he knows is he has a cool suit that allows him to shrink. He makes a mental note to check into that later, but at the moment he didn't have the time.

"Who are you?" Tony asked and Scott looked a bit disappointed as he shook his head.

"Oh C'mon." the man turned and went back to sit on his cot. Tony just shook his head before walking over to Sam in hopes he can get him to tell him where Katie and Steve have gone. Sam didn't even turn to the man when he walked over.

"How's Rhodes?" he asked, still refusing to look at the man.

"We're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow. So... Fingers crossed. What do you need?" Sam turned to the man in confusion. "They feed you yet?"

"Oh, you're good cop now?" Sam asked.

"I'm just the guy who needs to know where they went." Tony replies and Sam scoff as he turns his back to the man.

"Well you better go get the bad cop, because you would have to go Mark 'Terminal' on my ass to get information out of me." Sam says finally turning and walking over to the man. He watches as Tony presses something on his watch before looking back up to the man.

"Oh, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'. We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment." Sam looked even more confused as he glanced over to the security camera before turning back to Tony. "Look." Tony pressed another button and brought the image of the real doctor dead in the trunk. "This is supposedly the real doctor that was supposed to interrogate Bucky." he looked back up to Sam and sigh. "Clearly I made a mistake Sam. I was wrong and I'm pretty sure she's going to throw that in my face when I find her."

"That's a first."

"Cap is definitely off the reservation and he's about to need all the help he can get. And if this is as bad as he says it is, then he's gonna need more than Katie to get out alive. We don't know each other very well. You don't have to—"

"It's alright." Sam interrupted with a slight shake of his head. He knew all too well that Steve and Katie might be walking into something bigger than they could handle. "I'll tell you." he looked back to Tony. "But you have to go alone and as a friend." Tony looked at the man, and gave a firm nod.

"Easy."

Once Tony had the information he needed, he turned and headed for the door. He wasn't supposed to stop. There was no time to stop. The AV was back up and Ross now had eyes on all of them once again, and yet Tony felt the need to say one more thing to the man who will probably always hate him. He let out a sigh, before walking back over to Clint's cell.

"You should be going." Clint muttered as he sat on his cot. He glanced over to the man for a moment before turning away. "I think we all will like our time in this prison a little more if we didn't have to see your face." Tony wanted to say so much in that moment, and yet he couldn't and still walk out of here a free man. So he didn't say anything. He let out a sigh before turning and finally leaving. He stalked back to his helicopter, just as Ross rushed over to him.

"Stark, did he give you anything on Rogers?"

"No, he told me to go to hell. I'm going back to the compound instead." Tony replied, not even stopping as he stepped onto the plane. He looked back over to the an as he took a seat. "But, you can call me anytime. I'll put you on hold, I like to watch the line blink." the look on the Secretary's face made Tony smile as he closed the door to his plane.

At some point Katie nodded off. There was a hand on her shoulder and she blinked awake, suddenly hit with the sight of the bright white now. She frowned as she looked up to see Steve.

"It's looks cold." she said as she unclasped her seat belt. She stood to her feet, hissing at the pain in her thigh.

"Are you sure that's alright?" Steve asked looking down to the woman's bandaged leg. Katie shook her head as she peeked out the window.

"No idea, but don't worry about me. Worry about the man attempting to release the Kraken." she turned to see Bucky standing over the weapons drawer and she walked over figuring she probably would need something as well.

"Here." the man grabbed a bullet proof vest and handed it to the woman. "You really need some type of gear if you're going to be out in the field." Katie chuckled with a shake of her head as she looked down to the vest.

"Me in the field is never a conscious decision. It always just happens." Katie replied slipping the vest on over her jacket. She grabbed one of the assault rifles, pulling it strap around her shoulder and letting it hang behind her. They stood at the door as it slowly opened. Steve and Bucky standing in front of Katie still wasn't completely focused on the mission at hand. She kept thinking about her husband and her daughter who she still hasn't seen. She grabbed the gun, glancing up to the men who smiled at a fond memory from their past.

"She's got to be a hundred years old by now." Bucky said with a shake of his head.

"Hey, so are we pal." Steve replied.

"Not to break up the remember the times moment." Katie said and they glanced back to her with a nod. Katie really did hate the cold. She shivered as she searched the blinding white snow. They walked to the hidden entrance, the door wide open.

"He couldn't have been here for more than a couple of hours." Steve said.

"Long enough to wake them up." Bucky replied before looking over to his friend. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Steve replied before both men looked back to Katie. "You know what you have to do?"

"I know what I have to do, how that actually happens won't materialize until I have the program in front of me." Katie replied glancing over her shoulder. "This still makes no sense." she turned back to the men and gave them a nod before they walked inside.

The moment Katie stepped inside, she felt her insides twist. She barely remembers being locked away in this place, but she can't shake the bad feelings that rush her as she walks inside.

"There is a lab downstairs. That's where they're kept. He'll be down there." Bucky said as he holds his gun firmly, searching the halls. "There's an elevator this way."

"Wait." Katie says stopping and they turned to her. "There is a command station here, one that should have computer that accesses the entire building and it's programs." she turned and noticed a sign written in Russian. She walks over and mutters the words before pointing down one of the halls. "It should be that way." she turned back to Steve and Bucky who both just stared at her for a moment. "What?"

"Splitting was not a part of this plan." Steve said.

"We don't know where this guy is and it's too dangerous for you to just be off on your own." Bucky added and Katie turned to him. "We don't know what's happening or if we're walking into a trap, so splitting up is definitely not something we should be doing."

"Guys, I appreciate you caring, but I came here for a reason. I'm the computer lady." she turned to Steve who let out a sigh. "I will shut down the program and find you when it's done." she looked over to Bucky who shook his head. "I wouldn't be here if neither one of you believed I could handle whatever situation was waiting for us here. Remember that." she gave them both a pat on the shoulder before turning her gun and heading down the hall.

"I thought you were the boss." Bucky said before turning to Steve who kept his eyes on Katie until she turned down a hall. "Why didn't you make her stay?" Steve simply chuckled before turning and heading for the elevator.

"Because only a hand full of people scare me, and that woman is at the top of the list."

Katie cautiously walked down the dim lit halls of the building. She felt her heart ramming in her chest, ignoring the twinge that pulled at her. She needed to focus. There was a sound from behind her and she whipped the gun around, prepared to shoot. She evened out her breathing, suddenly tapping into instincts she forgot she had. Her father's voice seemed to filter in her head.

" _Ears open. Listening is going to be your greatest weapon."_

Katie closed her eyes, and tried to focus in on the sound around her. That's when she heard the heavy footsteps getting closer. Without a second that, she whipped around the gun about to shoot, but in the last second, her eyes opened and she realized who was standing there.

"Tony?" she didn't drop her gun, didn't lower it, didn't even pretend as if she would. The last time she saw the man, he was trying to put her in a cell. And now he stood in front of her in one of his Iron Suits. It looked new, maybe one she didn't help design. "How are you here?" The suit's face plate suddenly falls, revealing the man's face. He glanced from her to the gun in her hands and he sighed.

"You look a little defensive." he said and Katie only glared at the man. "I got your message. You were right." he waited for her to lower the gun, but she didn't even flinch. "Did you hear me, I said—"

"Why are you here?" Katie asked instead.

"To help." Tony replied in confusion. "I want to help find the guy who started all of this mess and clear your name." the man took a step toward her. "Look, Ross doesn't know I'm here, and I would like to keep it that. Or else I will have to arrest myself which I really don't want to have to do." It was a joke, not his best, but he needed her to see that he really was here to help her. She didn't crack a smile, or even lower the damn gun. "Kitten—"

"There is a lab downstairs. That's where Zemo is most likely. Steve and Bucky headed down just a few moments ago. That's where you will be needed." she moved to walk past him, only for him to take a step to the side to block her.

"What do you want an apology, because I'm sorry." Tony said. "There, I'm sorry. Now you forgive me, and then we will be good again. And everything will be right with the world."

"Everything will never right with the world, Tony." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "You need to get downstairs." she slipped around the man, and continued down the hall. Tony turned watching her, gritting his teeth. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he thought they could get past it. He couldn't lose her. If he lost her he would truly be alone. At the moment she was right. There were bigger problems, and so the face plate returned and he headed in search for a way down to the lab.

When Katie appeared outside the door, she held up the gun before reaching forward and pushing open the door. She slowly stepped inside, aiming the gun around the room filled with computers. She lowered it when she realized the room was empty. Katie rushed over to one of the computers, dropping into the seat before sitting her gun beside her.

"Ok, hopefully the off switch won't be too hard to find." she sighed as she typed a few keys, glad that after all this time of being abandoned, the computers were still working. The computer itself was very old, and slow which only frustrated the woman as she tried navigating to the central system. The moment she found the the Winter Soldier program, she quickly slipped inside. "Alright, let's see—" a sudden frown came to Katie's face as she opened the status of the soldiers only to see that for some reason the system was showing them as dead. "What the hell?" the woman typed a couple of keys going to every soldier's profile, only to see the same terminated status, that seemed to go into affect just hours before they arrived. "Why—" she looked up trying to figure out what was going. "Why would he kill them." she closed her eyes going over all the details she knew about this Zemo guy. The one thing she thought she knew was just proven wrong. "He doesn't want to activate the program, so what was the point?" she opened her eyes looking back to the computer. "Frame Bucky? But why?" she turned away once again. "He wants an empire to fall? The only thing he's successfully done is divide the Avengers, was that the point? But why unless—" the woman closed her eyes trying to remember all the information she pulled on the man. "Sokovia." she opened her eyes. "This is revenge." she stood to her feet before grabbing her gun and running in search of a way down to the lab.

Katie felt like she was running in circles, unsure of every turn she took, but she somehow found the elevator. She nervously stood waiting to finally get down to lab, for some reason having a bad feeling about all of this. They were mislead, and she's not even completely sure why. The elevator stopped, and Katie suddenly heard a loud crash that made her jump slightly. She held up the gun, and cautiously walked toward the sound of clanking metal. Soon she realized her friends may be in serious trouble and so she quickly ran.

The moment she stepped inside, she had to quickly dodge falling debris and sparks from above her. Her eyes darted around hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone. She heard grunts from the other side of the lab, and she quickly ran over and she saw she didn't expect. Tony and Steve engage in a brutal fight. She spotted Bucky lying on the ground, his metal arm just gone, as if torn away.

"Stop!" she said looking back up to the fight in front of her. Neither heard her or if they did they didn't acknowledge it. "Stop this!" her heart was pounding in her chest as she watched the fight that she couldn't just run up and stop without getting hurt herself. "Guys!" both men seemed to be going non stop, until Tony pushed Steve back before shooting a blast from the palm of his suit into the man's chest making him fall to his knees.

"He's my friend." Steve says breathlessly, and this moment where they aren't moving so fast, Katie can really see how badly beaten and bloodied the super soldier is.

"So was I." Tony replied and Katie's eyes widened at how fiercely Tony punched and kicked the man.

"Tony!" Katie yelled. This was getting too far, if they didn't stop one of them was going to be killed. She slowly stepped forward, trying to find a way to break this up. Tony grabbed Steve and tossed him like he was just a rag doll into the stone pillar.

"Stay down." he ordered. "Final warning." And Steve being the good soldier that he was just couldn't give up, and so with a grunt he pushed himself back to his feet.

"I could do this all day." Steve said holding up his fists ready to keep going. There was finally space between the men, and when Tony rose his palm to shoot once again, Katie knew she had to do something, so without really thinking she ran to stand between them.

"Move!" Tony yelled and she turned to the man with a shake of her head.

"No, this has gone on long enough!" she yelled back to the man before looking over her shoulder to Steve who still stood tall but looked utterly exhausted. She turned back to Tony. "Whatever this is, it's a trick. Zemo orchestrated all of this to—"

"His pal Bucky killed my parents." Tony said and Katie looked up to him with wide eyes before looking down to Bucky who was still lying on the ground. "Did you know?" she turned back to the man, hurt that he would think that was something she would keep from him. "Did you—"

"Stop talking!" she snapped angrily before taking a step toward the man. "Fighting over the past does not change the past. I learned that a long time ago Tony. This is pointless and it plays into Zemo's game. Just don't—"

"Move out of the way or I will move you." Tony threatened and Katie's eyes went slightly wide at the blatant threat.

"I'm tired of this. I didn't even want to be on this team. I was fine flying solo, but you wouldn't just let me run."

"Katie, just move out of the way." Steve said from behind her and she turned to him with a quirked brow. "It's ok."

"It's not ok." she said before turning back to Tony, who took a step toward her. "FRIDAY, activate master override." The suit seemed to lose power almost instantly.

"FRIDAY?" Tony spoke. "FRIDAY?! You—how dare you?!" Katie turned to Steve who looked confused as he looked from Tony to her.

"Take Bucky and leave." she said and Steve stood a bit stunned for a moment before walking over to his friend. He kept a close eye to Tony, who didn't seem as if he could move. Steve helped Bucky to his feet before the pair started for the door.

"That shield doesn't belong to you! You don't deserve it." Tony called back to the man. "My father made that shield!" Steve suddenly stopped walking before turning and tossing the shield to the ground. He looked over to Katie who didn't seem to be moving and when she turned to meet his eyes she simply just shook her head. Leaving her behind wasn't the plan, in his head when he imagined how all of this played out, out all the possibilities of that happened here, leaving this place without her and Bucky was not an option.

"Go!" she called after him. "This story only plays out one way, and I still have a husband I need to try to save and a daughter I need to hug. You need to leave now." Steve looked over to Tony, before turning back to Katie. Steve was truly a soldier, because he couldn't fully bring himself to leaving her behind, that code was ingrained in him. "If you know anyone who can find a way out of any situation, it's me. But if I need saving, you're gonna be there right?"

"Absolutely." he replied seriously, before finally turning and heading for a way out. Once they were gone and Katie and Tony were left alone, she turned to the man.

"I will never forgive you for this." he spoke and Katie dropped her head, the words like a knife from the man. "I will—"

"I just stopped you from murdering your friend." Katie replied looking up to the man. "I will never ask you to forgive me for that. Be angry Tony, be sad about your parents. Cry, scream, shout at the top of your lungs, and I will be there with you, but you try to kill people and I intervene." she took a step toward the man so they were only inches apart. "FRIDAY, activate." soon the suit powered back on, giving Tony control. He turned as if to leave. "You attempt to go after them, I will stop you." he turned back to her, the face plate of his suit falling back to reveal his face that seems more bruised and bloodied since she last saw him.

"I'm not afraid of them or you." Tony said and despite the seriousness and the sadness of this situation, Katie let out a snort before shaking her head.

"Where is Zemo?" Katie asked and Tony turned away from her. "You know the bad guy who murdered a room full of diplomats, a doctor, infiltrated a government facility. Where is he?!" Katie shook her head. "You don't know because you let him win!"

"He hasn't won." a accented voice spoke, and both Tony and Katie turned to see T'Challa holding Zemo in a headlock. "I've called Secretary Ross, a team is on the way here."he looked over to Katie. "They should be here soon, maybe you should—"

"Run?" Katie asked and she just shook her head before turning back to Tony. "No, Ross has been after me for a long time, and I think it's time we finally cleared the air."

A team of Ross' men arrived, arresting both Zemo and Katie who they forced onto their plane. Katie sat her hands cuffed behind her back, a soldier sitting on both sides of her, their guns in their laps in case she or Zemo tried anything. To her surprise, Tony rode on the plane with them, his suit too damaged to fly. He sat across from her, staring back as she looked at him. After a moment he dropped his head and she could feel the sadness coming from him. She knew HYDRA was behind the car accident, but she didn't know they sent Bucky to murder them. She couldn't imagine what the man was feeling, the anger and the rage she seemed to block him from releasing.

Neither spoke, the long ride spent in glances ever so often. The truth was that thing that they shared. That spark that no one else understood was now fizzling out and they could feel the distance between them growing even though they were just a couple feet from each other. Tony dropped his eyes, only now noticing the blood stained bandage on her thigh. Katie followed his eyes and let out a sigh.

"The things that happen at airports nowadays." she said and the man looked up to her and just shook his head.

"Could we not speak? I would very much like to continue the rest of this ride in silence, if you don't mind." Tony said, now avoiding her eyes. Katie continued to stare at him, still trying to figure out how they got to this moment. How the man across from her went from being her best friend, to the man who doesn't even want to be around her.

"There is a file in FRIDAY's mainframe labeled Rice Pudding recipe." Tony turned to her with a quirked brow. "You're gonna download the file and once it's complete, I will no longer have access to any of your tech. It's the bullet proof firewall that can even keep me out."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because the moment we step off of this plane, I get the feeling we won't see each other for a while." she dropped her head and let out a shaky breath before looking back up to the man. "Maybe it's for the best." the woman turned away, and Tony could feel that tightening in his chest. He brought a hand to his arm as he tried to take a couple of deep breaths. He looked over to her, wanting to hate her, wanting to never want to speak to her again and just be fine with it. He wanted to be able to just cut her out of his life, and still find happiness. But no matter how he spun it, he couldn't see it happening. Katie turned when she heard one of the pilots mention that they would be landing soon. "Don't intervene." she turned back to Tony. "When we land, and Ross gets all sketchy and secretive about what's gonna happen to me, just stay out of it. You can get out clean, it's best you kept it that way."

Tony was about to reply, but the pilot was already announcing for everyone to brace themselves for landing. When the plane finally touched down to Ross's floating prison, Tony stood to his feet as the doors finally open.

"I'm going to need you to wait on the plane until the prisoners are securely off." one of the soldiers spoke, moving to stand in front of Tony so he couldn't even attempt to move around.

"What are you—" soon more soldiers with guns rushed onto the plane, seeming to grab Katie and jerk her from her seat. He looked over to Zemo who still remained seated before turning back to the plane door where he could see Ross standing there watching. "What's going on?" Tony took a step, only for the soldier to push him back, but the way Tony was feeling at the moment left no amount of restraint when he shoved the man out of the way, before stepping from the plane just in time to see Katie standing in front of Ross as someone injects her with something that causes her entire body to go limp. "Ross!"

"You knew where they were when you left here, didn't you?" the Secretary asked as the soldiers seemed to drag Katie away.

"Where are you taking her?" Tony asked. Sure he was angry with her, and he would be fine no longer speaking to her again, but seeing her dragged away just seemed to make him even more angry.

"Don't worry about Ms. Banks. She committed a long list of crimes and she will pay for them." Ross looked up to the plane as Zemo is escorted off.

"So she's dragged away and this bastard who murdered countless government officials gets to stroll to his prison?" Tony said turning back to the man. "What is this about? What do you want from her?"

"You caught the man we were looking for and because of that you proved the innocence of Barnes, so maybe we won't put as many resources into looking for them. You no longer need to be here, Mr. Stark." Ross nodded toward the further end of the ship. "I think your plane is here." with that the man turned, walking back inside. Tony went to follow, only to be blocked by a couple of Ross' soldiers.

"The Secretary has ordered for to you leave, Mr. Stark." one of them said and Tony grit his teeth as he looked over to the door before turning back to the men standing in front of him. "Mr. Stark—" Tony just held up a hand to stop him, before he once again looked over to the door. He gave a shake of his head before turning and heading to his helicopter.

When Tony climbed inside, he definitely didn't expect to see Matthew sitting there as if waiting for him. The young man frowned, before looking out the door searching for someone else.

"Where's Rinny?" Matthew asked turning back to Tony who simply shook his head before falling into his seat. "Tony—"

"Ross has her." Tony replied not able to look at the man.

"Why exactly?" Matthew asked and Tony shook his head. "Bucky is innocent, and she helped bring in the real terrorist, so why is my sister being arrested?" Tony still didn't say anything, and so Matthew let out a low growl before attempting to step off the plane, only for Tony to grab his arm. "Let me go!"

"Why? So you can be thrown into the cell next to hers?" Tony asked looking up to the man. "You want to help her, then you're going to need to be smart."

"Ok, so what's the plan?" Matthew asked and Tony turned away and just shook his head once again. "Tony—"

"You're CIA Matt, you have friends, you have resources at your disposal." Tony replied looking out the window. "You don't need me to help get her back."

"What the hell happened out there?"

"A whole hell of a lot." Tony replied turning back to the man. "You staying or leaving?" Matthew glanced back out to the ships deck and sighed before reaching forward and closing the helicopter's door.

"You're right I will have to do this smart, and that doesn't start here." Matthew strapped himself into his seat. "Look I don't know what happened, but I know my sister." he looked over to the man. "Even when I don't understand my sister, I know her. Whatever she did, she most likely did it because it was the right thing to do. I get that now." he shook his head. "Which is why I'm not letting Ross, a man with his own file in the CIA have her at his disposal. I'm not sure if you realized this yet, but she is an asset, one that a lot of people want. Even some of the people we think are the good guys."

_Darkness engulfed Katie unexpectedly. Once it had taken her, then there was nothing she could do but let it._

" _I am Groot?" a small voice spoke and Katie whipped around trying to find the source. She suddenly appeared in the street of a strange road with a market, and people moving around her. "I am Groot." she once again turned at the voice, this time finally spotting the little tree like creature sitting on on the steps in front of a door. He looked at her and waved with a smile before standing to his feet and turning and pushing the door open. He ran inside, and Katie followed after him._

" _Groot, where are we?" she whispered as she entered a room illuminated by candles, as the scent of something weird passed her nose. "Groot?!" she turned at the sound of tiny feet and she spotted the small being running through another door. He was the only familiar thing in this place, so she followed him hoping he would lead her to the reason she was even here. She saw him in the distance, moving quickly despite his small feet. He turned down a hall, and Katie quickened her step not liking not being able to see him. "Groot, where—" she turned down the hall, but came to a sliding halt. Apparently her and Groot weren't the only ones here. "Uh, hi?" she stares at the scruffy man whose face was hidden behind a thick mustache and beard. He looked at her as if confused to see her there as well._

" _Who are you?" the man asked and Katie opened her mouth to reply before looking up to see someone else appear. It was a woman. She had no hair and she didn't seem surprised to see Katie at all. The man turned following her eyes, seeing the woman as well. "Is she apart of your little club too?" he asked turning back to Katie. The woman only walked over, looking down to Katie with a small smile that only confused her._

" _This is a very strange dream." Katie muttered looking from the woman to the man, still trying to find meaning. "Groot?" she looked around the floor hoping the little creature would appear and help her make sense of all of this. She turned back to the woman who continued to stare which only uneased Katie. "I think I'm going to go." Katie turned, and before she knew it some sort of portal appeared in front of her. She tilted her head because through the portal she could see the familiar stars in the blackened space, that she'd dreamed about so many times before. Those stars were always so comforting and she found that maybe going there instead of this strange place would make this dream a bit better. She took a step and soon a hand grabbed her shoulder. When she turned, the bald woman rose a hand, moving it in a seamlessly random pattern. Katie turned to see the portal to the stars was now gone. "Why did you do that?" she turned back to the woman._

" _Because it is a veil that hides the truth." the woman said placing a gentle hand to Katie's cheek. "He is coming and when you go there, you make it easy for him to find you."_

" _Who?" the woman simply smiled at the question, but didn't answer. "What is all of this?" the woman turned away slightly before turning back to Katie._

" _A compass." she said before moving to stand beside her so their eyes both look to the man who stared back in confusion. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be ready when you meet."_

Water hit Katie's face, and reality came flooding back. She blinked the water out of her eyes, trying so hard to catch her breath.

"You back with me Banks?" a voice spoke. The voice seemed louder than it should be, and it seemed to echo as well. Soon a familiar face appeared in front of her, and even though he seemed a bit blurry she would recognize him without hesitation.

"You drugged me. I'm disappointed in you Mr. Secretary." she sighed.

"Well I have a very detailed file on you that says your brain is what makes you so dangerous. So I thought I would slow it down a bit." Ross said taking a seat in front of her. Katie dropped her head, and taking in a few breaths hoping to gain some lucidity. "It won't work. It's meant to last a while."

"Where is my husband?" she asked looking up to the man. "Is he here?" the man simply chuckled as he shook his head at the woman.

"Do you know what you have done, Banks?" he asked tilting his head as the woman seemed to be fighting to keep hers up. "The trouble you've caused."

"Bucky is innocent." she muttered.

"Of one crime, but there is a long list of crimes he is not innocent of." the man replied. "Just like you." she lifted her head back to him. "You're good at hiding your tracks Banks, but you're not that good. I have guys, guys smarter than you that found your cyber finger print, I think they called it, over some very classified information that I don't think you have the clearance for. You don't even want to know the prison sentence that could be." the man chuckled and it only seemed to grate upon her nerves. "I mean your daughter—" she looked back up to the man. "Your daughter will probably be a senior citizen the next time you lay eyes on her, if you make it that long."

"This prison sentence that's supposedly in my future, why hasn't it started yet?" the man stopped laughing, his face suddenly growing serious. "Everyone has ulterior motives. Even the Secretary of State. What do you want from me?" he was silent for a few moment before clearing his throat.

"Angelika Berkeller." the man said and Katie closed her eyes as she dropped her head. "Where is she?" the man waited for an answer, but the woman seemed to just dryly chuckle at the question. "We know she's alive, Banks and if you care about her you will tell us where she is so we can protect her."

"My mother is dead." Katie said before bringing her eyes to the man. "My mother is dead! She's dead! She's dead!" no one had any real evidence of her mother actually being alive, just rumors and suspicions and that's was what annoyed her the most. No one had facts, and so until they did she would lie as if her life depended on it, which it always did. "My mother died during childbirth."

"You're lying."

"Prove it."

"Fine." the man said standing to his feet and walking back over to her. "I can make you talk." he lifted a hand and with a snap of his fingers two men walked inside. "That camera up there, it will mysteriously glitch right now." he looked back down to the woman with a smile. "I hope you have fun." the man turned and headed for the door, the sound of her screaming not even slowing his step.

Secretary Ross felt as if he hadn't left his office for week waiting for the word that the woman had finally given up the location of her mother. He expected her to break sooner, but she was proving to be stronger than he thought. He was getting impatient and nervous. He crossed some lines bringing a team of heroes onto this ship and keeping them locked away in cells. But what he was doing to Katie was one line he's sure would have him in his own cell if the wrong people found out.

It was only by luck no one had been poking their nose on this ship. No one except for Tony Stark who randomly called demanding to know the woman's status. Up til now Ross was able to avoid the calls, or make believable excuses, but he knew it wouldn't last long. He knew Stark could be a problem if he didn't get answers soon. He grabbed his phone and called down to see if she had talked yet.

"I was told that your methods would get me results in hours, it's been days!" Ross snapped angrily. He only got excuses he didn't care about in returned. "I don't give a damn how strong she is. Everything can be broken with the right amount of pressure. Get the husband." another excuse, and a request for more time came and Ross scoffed. "I don't have time to give you. Get the husband now!" the man slammed the phone down angrily. He didn't want to cross more lines, but he would do whatever he needed to for this country.

Clint wasn't sure how long he'd been there. There wasn't any windows or any sign of the world around them. He knew he couldn't stay here, couldn't take any more time away from his daughter or finding his wife. He paced the small confines of his cell, when two soldiers appeared outside. He stopped and turned to them, watching as they opened the small glass door.

"Arms up!" One of them ordered and Clint didn't move. "If I have to tell you again, you're not gonna like." Clint smirked at the threat almost tempted to see what the man could do. "You want to see your wife, you'll bring your arms up."

"What, my wife?" Clint asked taking a step forward. "Is she here?" neither of the soldiers answered his question and so the man angrily slammed his fists against the glass. "You bastards, is she here?! Tell me where she is or so help me—"

"Arms up!" the soldier repeated and Clint stood there, now breathing heavy and completely worked up. He had to do what he was told if he ever expected to see Katie and so he lifted his arms and watched as the man placed some type of magnetic cuffs around his wrists. "Now step away from the glass." Clint glared at the man, but did as he was told, taking a couple of steps back. The guard gave a nod and soon the glass to the cell lifted up leaving nothing between them and Clint. One of the guards lifting his rifle to the archer while the other walked over to cuff the man's ankles as well. Once he was securely shackled both soldiers took a step back. "Move." Clint looked over to them, before taking small steps out of the cell. He looked over his shoulder to Scott and Sam who both stood watching the entire thing. One of the soldiers pushed him, and he grit his teeth before he continued walking.

"Hey what's going on?!" he heard Sam yell as he got further away. "Where are you taking him?!"

Clint wasn't sure where they were taking him, but he had hope that it lead him to his wife who he really needed to see right now. They walked down long halls and took a very long, and brutally silent ride on an elevator before they appeared outside of a door. One of the soldiers took a step forward and knocked. They waited until the door finally opened and out came a large man, who practically towered over Clint.

"No cuffs." his thick accented voice spoke.

"It's protocol." one of the soldiers replied.

"Fuck protocol!" the man replied glaring over to the man. "Uncuff him. If he gets passed me, he deserves to be free." the man chuckled as he looked back down to Clint who simply stared at him. "You're the archer. Apparently you're the pressure I'm lacking." Clint didn't know what he was talking about, but he didn't really care. Soon the cuffs were off of him and the large man turned opening the door and allowing him inside. Clint hesitantly walked in, unsure what he was walking into, but the moment he saw the woman lying on the ground curled up in the corner he practically ran to her side.

"Kat?" he gently turned her over, now able to see how pale she looked, and the dark circles of her eyes.

"Don't worry, we haven't messed up her pretty face." the man said from behind them. "We believe torture should go beyond physical pain." Clint turned a dark look to the man who seemed to chuckle. "Wake her up, she needs to see you before we begin with you." Clint grit his teeth before turning back to Katie and placing a hand on her cheek.

"Kat?" he brought his face close to her, leaning his forehead against hers. "I need you to open your eyes." he felt her breath against his skin. They were slow and that made him nervous. "Kat—"

"Shss." she whispered and he lifted his head to meet her eyes. She placed a hand on his cheek, a tired smile coming to his face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Clint asked relieved to finally see her eyes. "You're supposed to be far away from here."

"I'm saving you." she replied. She looked over his shoulder to the large man that she'd been trapped with for an entire week. "And now you're here, because Ross is so predictable." she turned back to Clint. "I think it's time we got out of here, don't you?"

"You must be reading my mind." Clint said before turning to the man who hovered above them. "Do you have a gun?"

"What?" the man asked and Clint rolled his eyes before turning and standing to his feet.

"A gun. We're gonna need a weapon when we break out of here." The large man growled, only able to take a single step before Clint dropped and slid a leg underneath the man's feet knocking him to the ground. The man attempted to get up, but Clint quickly slid over, bringing an arm around the man's neck and tightening his grip until he felt the man go limp. He dropped the man, before patting him down smiling at the gun holstered under his shirt. He snagged it and the key card attached to his belt before walking back over to Katie. "So this was your plan?" he pulled the woman's arm around his neck and pulled her to his feet. "Get captured and then wait for Ross to try to use me to get you to talk?"

"It worked didn't it." she muttered dropping her head to the man's chest and placing a soft kiss to his neck. Her eyes drifted closed, as she fell into his grasp.

"Kat, I need you to stay awake for me." Clint says pulling to woman back to her feet. "You're my back up, right?" she lifted her head, her eyes opening barely, as she turned back to him. "Can you walk?" she grabbed his arm and planted her feet before taking a deep breath.

"Yeah, I'm good." she turned back to the man. "We have to get to the others. Do you remember how to get back there?"

"I do but there's about a couple dozen soldiers standing between us and them." Clint replied. "I need to get you off this ship."

"You will, once I get to Sam and Wanda and Scott." she headed for the door, and Clint let out a groan before following after her. He moved quickly to get a head of her so he could open the door. He carefully pulled it open, making sure he had the gun aimed for anything that might pop up. A frown came to his face as he pulled the door open to find the hall empty. "I expected more people." she looked over to Clint who searched the halls expecting the same.

"C'mon." he took her hand, and lead her to the elevator. He looked over to the woman who stood, leaning against the wall, her eyes closed. She could barely keep herself standing. He didn't care what she said, he was getting her off of this ship and to a doctor. Once the doors opened, neither expected the scene in front of them. There lying on the ground were a number of soldiers. Clint took Katie's hand, carefully leading her out. They looked down to one of the men, noticing the slight rise and fall of his chest. "They're still alive." Katie bent down grabbing a discarded rifle.

"Still not sure we should be jumping for joy just yet." Katie says letting her eyes scan the floor. "Where are the cells?"

"This way." Clint points down one of the halls before moving. Katie holds up the rifle, close behind him. They seemed to run into more unconscious men as they neared the holding area. The door that should be locked was now cracked open. Clint held back a hand toward Katie stopping her so he could step inside first. He pushed open the door, and is instantly relieved to see Steve standing there with Sam, Scott and Wanda who are all out of their cells. They turn to him and Steve lets out a sigh of relief before taking a step forward.

"I got worried when you weren't here." Steve said with a slight smile. "Looks like you're ahead of me. I'm not sure if you know, but I think Katie was brought here and—" Steve lifted his eyes to see the woman stumble inside, a rifle in her hand and his smile widened.

"I thought you'd be long gone, Captain." Katie says walking over to the man.

"Yeah well you saved me more times than I can count, and I figured I should return the favor." he looked over his shoulder to the others. "There's a plane waiting for us on deck." he turned back to Katie and Clint, noticing the woman looking paler than normal. "Is she ok?" he turned to Clint who looked to the woman who took a deep breath.

"I'm not sure." Clint says before walking over to the woman and taking the rifle from her hands. "Sam—" the man quickly came over and took the gun before watching Clint hoist the woman into his arms. He turned to Steve. "Get us on that plane." Steve gave a nod before turning to the others who all began moving.

They knew getting off of that ship wasn't going to be easy, but with all of them together, they knew it wouldn't be that hard either. Clint held Katie in his arms straying away from the fight, and simply moving until the reached the deck.

"This way!" Steve called and they all ran, following him and running away from the soldiers that seemed to be chasing them.

It wasn't until they were all on that plane and it was lifting into the air that they realized they were finally free. Steve sat, looking over to Wanda who looked a bit dazed as her head laid on his shoulder. He looked over to Sam and Scott who sat near the window, both looking relieved to no longer be trapped. His eyes went across to Clint who sat, his arms firmly around his wife whose eyes were closed against his chest. Clint looked over to the man and sighed.

"I'm sorry." Steve said with a shake of his head before looking down to Katie. "I'm so sorry, I tried—"

"Steve, nothing you did or said forced this woman to do anything." Clint replied looking down to Katie before placing a kiss to her forehead. "She had a hunch." and looked back up to the man and just shook his head. "This woman and her hunches. But I would follow her gut before my own any day."

"What did Ross want with her?" Steve asked and Clint shrugged as he looked down to her once again. "Look where we're going there will be doctors who can look after her." Clint looked back up to the man who shook his head. "I called Matt." Clint turned meeting the man's eyes. "He knows the truth. I think he may have known the entire time, but he was standing in front of lines he vowed never to cross." Steve looked down to Katie and smiled. "When I told him she was taken by Ross, those lines seemed to get easier to cross."

"What does that mean?"

"It means hopefully your daughter and your in-laws will be waiting for you when we arrive." Steve replied looking up to the man who closed his eyes once again, finally feeling like he could breathe again.

_Katie was suddenly cold. She hated the cold and now she was standing on top of a snow covered mountain as cold winds, and even colder snow flakes swept around her. She brought her arms around herself in hopes of getting warm, but it didn't make a bit of difference. This was another dream. One she would very much like to wake up from._

" _Groot, are you here?" she asked turning, finally stopping when she sees that same man from before standing there. He turns as well, jumping a bit when he sees her. "You again." He was wearing different clothing, definitely not warm enough for this weather. "Why do I keep dreaming of you, I have no idea who you are."_

" _I do not have time for you, you crazy woman." he turned and began spinning his hand, and Katie noticed the sparks the seemed to suddenly appear. He growled in anger throwing his hands in the air before bringing his arms around him as well. He looked back to her and she just silently stared. "You can do this, right? Just get us out of here before I freeze."_

" _Look I don't know what you're talking about or how you—" she looked over with a shake of her head. "Are you a mutant?" she turned back to him. "Is that how you did that?"_

" _No, I'm not a mutant." the man looked down to his hands. "I will die if I don't surrender my ego and finally harness a power I'm not even sure I can."_

" _What ego can you have right now?" Katie asked and the man looked up to her. "I mean look at yourself." he looked down to himself, and sighed. "You want to get off this mountain then you're going to have to let go of whatever is holding you back." she saw the frost gathering against his hair and she knew he wouldn't make it if he did nothing. Maybe that's why she was here, maybe she needed to help him. "Try again." she took a step forward._

" _I can't, it won't work." he said with a shake of his head. "This is ridiculous!" he turned looking out to the snow covered mountains. "I'm going to die here."_

" _You're not gonna die!" Katie said walking over to stand in front of the man. "This is my dream, and I say you're not gonna die. This is a lesson about not giving up, so we're not going to give up. Try again, because if you don't get out of here, then I don't." he looked over to her. "And I don't want to die on this mountain. Just focus, try again." the man turned and Katie watched as he rose his hand, now noticing the two finger rings on his hands. He once again spun his hand, the sparks suddenly appearing like before. "You need to believe in the impossible right now." soon a portal opened up and there stood the bald woman from before standing beside a man. They were both dressed in very strange clothing, like the man beside her. She heard a grunt and looked down to see her mountain buddy had practically fallen through the portal back to warmth. Katie didn't move as she looked back to the man and woman who held two very different expressions._

" _Hurry." her mountain buddy said, still shivering as he turned back to her. "Before it—" the portal suddenly closed before he could finish his sentence._

Katie awaken with a gasp, sitting up from the bed. Soon arms were engulfing her in a hug.

"Kat, you're alright." Clint pulled back so she could see his eyes. "You're alright." he brought his arms around her once again. Katie's eyes scanned the room they were in. It was very large, with high ceilings and definitely not a hideout Clint would choose.

"Bart, where are we?" Katie asked and Clint pulled back and smiled.

It took Katie a while to get over the news that they were in Wakanda. She was both surprised and confused but all of those feelings went out the window when there was a knock at the door. When it opened, she saw her brother but her eyes went to the little girl whose little feet ran the moment her eyes saw her mother.

"My baby!" Katie jumped out of the bed, meeting Natalia half way, and picking the girl up in her arms. Katie couldn't quite explain the sudden relief that took over her the moment she had this girl in her arms. Matthew walked over to Clint who stood with a smile as he watched his wife and daughter.

"How is she?" Matthew asked over to the man.

"Doctor says whatever they gave her is working it's way out of her system. It was only meant to slow her down I guess." Clint replied looking back over to the woman. "What were they questioning her about? Bucky's location?"

"I doubt it." Matthew sighed with a shake of his head. "From what I could pull from the agency is that there has been a lot of research into Cynthia Chambers by request of the Secretary of State." Clint turned with a quirked brow. "I don't know, but I figure it's nothing good. What I do know is my sister is still the only link anyone has to that woman."

"Where are they?"

"They contacted Coulson, he's having them taken to a secure location." he turned at the laughter from the little girl who kissed Katie. The woman looked over to her brother, her smile suddenly faltering and the man sighed. "I kind of expected that look."

"Thanks for bringing her." Katie replied simply before turning back to the child.

"We should talk." Matthew said and Katie just shook her head.

"I can honestly say that there is nothing to talk about." Katie replied looking over to the man. "Talking doesn't really change what happened."

"It doesn't, but I still think I should say something." Matthew walked over and took a seat beside her. "When this all started and I found out you were helping Barnes, I was angry because that bastard hurt me, he bested me when I should've been able to take him. I got that HYDRA did some fuc—" the man stopped as the little girl in his sister's lap turned to him with a smile. "Some Fugly things to his head, but I didn't care. So I didn't seek out the truth and I didn't want to hear it even when I knew you were probably right. I wanted you on my side despite everything else." Katie turned away from him and smiled down to her daughter.

"I spent years in SHEILD with people telling me what was right, and who was wrong. Every mission I was apart of, every code I had to decrypt I was told it was because we were the good guys and everyone else were the bad guys." she turned back to her brother. "I will never live a life like that again. I love you, more than you can comprehend, but I make my own decisions on what's right and what's wrong based on the things I feel should be judged. I know Bucky hurt you, and a part of me will never forgive him for almost taking you away from us, but I can't judge him by the things he had no control over and for that I will be his friend." she nudged the man's side. "And I will always be your sister. Nothing changes that. Even you pointing a gun at me."

"That was—" the man dropped his head and sighed. "That will never happen again." he looked back over to Katie. "Your husband has made that very clear, but I let him know you scare me more than he does so there won't even be a next time."

"Good." Katie replied before looking back up to Clint. "Where is everyone?"

"Well we dropped Scott off, he insisted he would be ok. Said he was use to the life of a criminal. Sam, and Wanda are here somewhere. Steve is down in the lab with Bucky."

"Is he alright?"

"I'm not really sure." Clint said when Katie suddenly stood to her feet.

"Then lets go find out." she said smiling down to her daughter. "You have to meet your uncle Steve." the woman headed for the door, Clint and her brother close behind.

It took them a while to actually find the lab in this massive building. But the moment they did, their eyes went to the man encased in some kind of sleep chamber.

"He thinks this is the safest route." a voice said from behind them and the turned to see Steve. "At least until we figure out how to get that program out of him." He walked over to Katie with a smile. "You're looking better. How are you feeling?"

"A lot better since a certain someone walked through my door." Katie smiled, placing a kiss to Natalia's head. "Have you two met yet?" she turned to Steve who smiled down to the child.

"She was sleeping when we got here, but now I get to see that adorable little face." the man said gently bouncing a finger on the girl's belly causing her to laugh. "She's really gotten so big since I last saw her."

"Yeah, she's growing every day." Clint said with a shake of his head as he smiled down to the girl now looking at him. "Still amazes me."

"So what now?" Steve asked and Katie and Clint looked to him before turning back to each other. "Heading back to the farm?"

"No." Clint said with a shake of his head. "I don't trust Stark. He let them Ross take you."

"I told him to let it happen." Katie sighed as she turned away. "It was the only way I could get to you."

"Yeah, still, if he truly cared about you, then what you wanted would not have mattered. He shouldn't have let that bastard take you away and torture you." Clint replied. "He made a big statement, I will never forgive him for that."

"Right now that's not important." Katie says sliding a hand over Talia's head as the girl laid on her chest. "We need to figure out where we're going."

"You're welcome here for as long as you like." a voice spoke and they turned to see T'Challa, who walked over. "I apologize for my rash behavior, and playing into the sick game of a monster."

"Well you weren't the only one he fooled. And we appreciate all of your help, but I don't think we should stay here." Katie replied. “We wouldn’t the craziness on our heels to lead to you.” she turned back to Clint and shrugged. "Any ideas?"

"I have a friend I could call." the man said turning to T'Challa. "Could I use your phone?"

That one call would lead to Clint, Katie and Natalia standing at the foot of a plane saying goodbye.

"I don't understand why you can't just tell me exactly where you're going." Matthew said and Katie sighed placing a kiss to the man's cheek. "I don't like this."

"It's not forever." Katie replied with a smile. "Once we figure out how to stop so many people from coming after me."

"That could take a while." Matthew replied looking down to his niece and placing a finger in her tiny hand. "My little buddy here could be a senior in college before I see her again."

"You're being dramatic, Mattie." Katie sighed and her brother brought his arms around her in a hug.

"Take care of yourself Rinny." he placed a kiss to her cheek before turning to Clint. "And you better take care of both of them." he held out a hand to the man who took it and hugged the man as well.

"Absolutely." Clint replied as he pulled back. "You take care of yourself too. There are gonna be a lot of eyes on you now."

"Well I'm a good looking guy, there's always a lot of eyes on me." Matthew said with a cocky smile.

"Don't worry, I'll check in on him." Steve said walking over to shake Clint's hand. "You guys be safe." he turned to Katie, pulling her into a hug as best he could with the child in her arms. "And if you need saving—"

"I have your number." Katie replied as she pulled away from the man. "And I promise to do as much as I can to help Bucky. Without the actual coding for the program, it will be a bit more difficult but not impossible. Once I get settled somewhere I will get in contact with T'Challa's scientists and hopefully he won't have to sleep for long."

"I appreciate that, and I'm sure he does as well." Steve said before looking back to to Natalia. "It was nice seeing you again Natalia. You take care of your parents ok." he slid a finger across her cheek, before looking back up to the couple and giving them a nod.

Sam and Wanda gave their goodbyes and soon Clint, Katie and their daughter were high above the clouds.

"So now do you want to tell me where we're going?" Katie asked looking over to her husband who held their sleeping daughter in his arms. "It's not gonna be cold is it, because Bart if it's cold—"

"Kat, calm down. It's not cold. At least not this time of year." Clint replied. "I have a friend who use to work with SHIELD." Katie quirked a brow, but Clint nodded. "I trust him. He has a place in Nepal. It's far off the radar and right now that's where we need to be." the man looked down to his daughter, gently rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry." he looked up in confusion to the woman's word. "I know you wanted the simple farm life, and I messed that up."

"Kat, my life is with you and this little girl. I will take any life that has both of you in it." Clint replied before giving the woman a wink. "Get some sleep, we're gonna be in the air for a while." Katie sighed before closing her eyes and lying her head back on the seat.

"What part of Nepal are we going to?" the woman asked, unable to stop the yawn that followed the question.

"Place called, Kathmandu." Clint replied turning to look out the window. "He said it's a great place to disappear."

"What strange lives we lead dear husband." the woman muttered, finally allowing her sleep to over take her. "Hopefully it doesn't get any stranger."


	7. Chapter 7

" _You were meant to be more!"_

Katie's eyes snapped open, her entire body drenched in sweat. She placed a hand over her chest, trying to calm her breath, and the ramming of her heart. Her eyes lifted to the window on the other side of the room, the sun filtering in. She sat up from the bed, the booming voice still causing her to shake a bit.

She heard the sound of distant laughter from outside the room, and she let out another deep breath before standing to her feet to pull on her robe. She went into the bathroom, and splashed some water on her face, before drying with a towel and glancing up to the mirror. Her hair was a mess over her head, verifying another night of tossing and turning. She grabbed a rubber band and pulled her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head.

"You're fine." she whispered looking back to her reflection. "They're just dreams." with another deep breath, she turned and headed out the room to the ridiculously long hallway of their safe house.

When Clint said he had a friend who had a great place for them to disappear, she didn't expect a modest mansion in the middle of miles of land. Apparently the place was one of SHIELD's old safe houses. It had all the amenities and more because anyone sent here probably wouldn't see the rest of the world for a while. She climbed down the stairs, the sound of her daughter's laughter getting closer.

Soon she spotted the child, and the moment Natalia saw her mother, she ran right to her. Katie scooped the girl into her arms, just as her husband ran in.

"Look who's awake." Clint's says walking over to the woman. "I thought I was going to have check on you."

"Well that's what happens when daddy keeps mommy up all night." Katie replied as the man leaned in for a kiss, only for his daughter's hand to shoot up and stop him. He looked down to the girl and smiled. "Have you fed our little monster?"

"I have, we were just on our way upstairs for a bath." Clint says snagging the child from his wife. "And then we're going to go to the market and get some food. Check out the list in the kitchen, and see if anything needs to be added." he placed a kiss to her cheek before heading upstairs, Natalia's laughter echoing as they left.

Katie smiled with a shake of her head before heading off to the kitchen. She spotted the list, and instantly shook her head at the amount of sweets listed.

"Oh no you don't." she muttered, already imagining her little toddler hyped up on sugar. She walked over, and pulled open a drawer to grab a pen only to pause at the sight of something else. The small flip phone was just sitting there. She forgot all about the phone Steve had given her before they left. She picked it up, and powered it on. Holding her breath at the thought of a missed call, or text. A sigh of relief escaped her lips to find that there was nothing waiting for her. She scrolled through it a bit, still finding it funny that Steve had actually given her a flip phone. It was smart, harder to trace, but it still made her cringe when she had to press so many buttons. She pulled open the contacts to find only two names. Her eyes glanced from Steve's name, to Tony's and her mind instantly went back to the last time she saw him, on that plane and how he looked at her. She could never get over how the friendship she thought she could always count on through anything, was just gone. With a shake of her head, Katie once again powered off the phone before tossing it back into the drawer and grabbing a pen.

After a few moments, the woman poured herself a cup of coffee and stood staring out the window to the backyard. The sound of footsteps tore her from her thoughts, and she turned to see Clint and Natalia, both changed and ready to go. Clint grabbed the list, and shook his head at the changes Katie made.

"Did you really add carrot sticks?" he asked looking over to Katie who chuckled. "But they're gross."

"They're also healthy, and are the type of food she should be snacking on instead of cookies and candy." Katie replied as the man looked back down to the list. "You know I should just come with you and—" Clint lifted his eyes to Katie and she let out a sigh. "That's right, I forgot. I'm a prisoner."

"No, you're safe. The moment you step outside, the moment some facial recon satellite finds you, and then our safe little life here just goes kaput." the man folded the list and slipped it into his pocket. "I don't want to leave anymore homes."

"Because of me."

"That's not what I meant, I just-" he sighed, because he didn't want to have this conversation. Because he's sure it will turn into an argument, and that's the last thing he wants. "We should get going. We should be back soon." Katie didn't push, she never did. She didn't want to argue either, but it didn't hide the truth. She simply gave a nod, before watching the pair leave.

Katie stood there for a few moments, until she heard the sound of engine of Clint's car, before she hurried upstairs. She quickly changed into a pair of yoga pants, and a long sleeved shirt. She grabbed a baseball cap, and a pair of sunglasses before quickly hurrying down the stairs and out the door. She wasn't proud of herself for keeping this from Clint. It's just she was going crazy locked away in this big house. She needed the feel of the sun on her skin, the wind against her hair. It's why every time the man goes on his weekly trip to the market, she goes for a quick jog. At this point, she has a route, one that's not too far, and allows her a bit of freedom before she has to head back.

She'd gotten to the end of her trail, when she was about to turn back, but a sudden whistling sound caused her turn and search for the source. Her eyes glanced around, not seeing much beyond the tall trees. Her eyes suddenly caught something in the distance. Katie squinted slightly, making out what looked like a person wearing a hood.

"Are you ok?!" she called out to the person, but they didn't say a word. The whistling sound only got louder and Katie clasped her hands over her ears, tightening her eyes closed unsure what was happening. Without warning, the whistling came to a sudden halt. Katie's heart was still racing as she lowered her hands, and opened her eyes only to find that the person was gone. She looked around for a moment, but they were really gone. With a shake of her head she turned, about to run back to the house, when the hooded person was now in front of her. "What-" he threw a punch, that she quickly dodged, before instinctively throwing a counter punch. The moment she threw the punch, her fist had only touched the hood before it felt like it was pulling her. Katie stumbled forward, before lifting her head and realizing she wasn't on the trail any longer. She was in the middle of a crowded market road. She looked around in confusion, before turning and walking from the crowd. Katie found herself on another road, one less crowded, but more confusing. She didn't have a phone or anyway to call Clint. She didn't actually know where she was right now.

That was until she saw it. It was the old wooden double doors from her dreams. One of the doors, suddenly cracked open on it's own, and Katie took a slight step back, her eyes looking around to see if anyone else had saw it. No one made any sign that they cared about the door, or her in that moment. She turned back to the door, and slowly crept forward.

Matthew Banks hated his job. He assumed after the whole thing with his sister, the world thinking she and Captain America were fugitives, that he'd be chained to a desk right now, but nope...he was in India.

In India, where it was hot and he was wearing entirely way too many clothes. His current mission, follow Tony Stark. To reiterate, Matthew Banks hated his job.

The young man was heavily disguised, with a blonde wig, and even a prosthetic nose to avoid being identified by Tony. The current Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross was intent on getting a lead on both his sister or Steve and he figured one of them would reach out to Tony. Matthew thought it was a crock of you know what. He wasn't completely sure of what actually happened between the three of them the last time they were together, but he knows something changed. It's why he knows there probably wouldn't be any secret meetings between them.

Matthew followed Tony's expensive car, back to his even more ridiculous expensive hotel which was the only highlight to Matthew's stay.

"Thank god." Matthew muttered realizing they were returning to the hotel. He watched as Tony went inside, before he followed.

Once inside, he spotted Tony stepping onto the elevator, and so he walked over to catch the one beside it. Matthew's floor was below Tony's, but he'd already gotten access to surveillance video on Tony's floor allowing him to see when the man came and went. He headed down the hall toward his room, when he got the sudden feeling that he was being followed. Matthew stopped and glanced over his shoulder, but didn't see anyone. He shook off the feeling, before turning and continuing to his room. He'd only taking a few steps before that feeling seemed to creep back up, and this time he turned around fully to scan the hall. It was this moment a familiar fragrance met his nose, and the man just rolled his eyes. Matthew turned and continued down the hall, making the normal left at the end of the hall, but instead of continuing, he pressed his back against the wall and waited. As expected, just moments later, Matthew quickly grabbed his stalker, slamming their back against the wall as he holds them in place. Only problem was, it was the one person Matthew really didn't want it to be.

"Hey, watch the suit!" Tony snapped before pushing the man back. He looked at Matthew for a moment, that's when Matthew realized Tony didn't know who he was. "Why are you following me?" Matthew wanted to respond, to deny the allegation, but he was never good at disguising his voice. He was more of in the field agent, not some rich boy babysitter. Instead he turned and continued to his room. "Hey, I found you, you're caught, just tell me who you're working for?!" Tony didn't get a reply, which only annoyed him. "Well suit yourself." Matthew had taken only a single step before hearing something metallic behind him. The moment he turned, he saw Tony with one of his iron suit's hand, pointed right at him. Matthew quickly reached for his gun, but before he could, a jolt of electricity hit him square in the chest, and stole consciousness from him in a blink of an eye.

It was yelling that finally stirred Matthew. His initial response was to move, but he instantly noticed that he just couldn't.

"What the hell were you thinking, Tony!" a voice snapped, and Matthew cracked open his eyes to see Tony, and a very angry Pepper Potts standing in front of him. "You can't attack people, drag them to your room and then tie them up."

"That's funny, because that's exactly-" Tony turned to the man, now seeing his open eyes. "Well hello there." he walked over, towering over the man who looked up to him. "So I've run your ugly mug through facial recon, and I've gotten nothing. So either you don't exist, or you're one of either SHIELD, or a very stupid HYDRA flunkie who missed the memo." Matthew didn't say anything, as he dropped his head and groaned at the soreness that seemed to be radiating off of him. "Speak!"

"You know what-" Matthew finally spoke lifting his head to the man. "Fuck it. It's the nose, and the contacts, maybe the wig. Once they're gone, your little program would've told you exactly who I am."

"Matthew?" It was Pepper who spoke, instantly recognizing the voice as she walked over. Tony suddenly reached forward pulling off the wig and the prosthetic nose, and looking down to the man instantly recognizing him. "What is this?" Matthew didn't say anything as he looked down to himself to see how he was tied. It seemed to be some kind of metallic clamps that didn't give the man any wiggle room to move at all.

"You know buddy you don't have to dress up like an asshole to hang with me. All it takes is a phone call." Tony replied and Matthew scoffed.

"Buddy, huh?" Matthew said glancing back up to the man. "You're not my buddy Tony. I mean you left my sister to die, you're furthest thing from my buddy." Tony dropped his head and turned with a shake of his head.

"Matthew, Tony told me what happened." Pepper said, crouching down in front of the man. "He said it was an impossible situation-"

"Tony Stark said a situation was impossible, and you believed him?" Matthew asked and the woman sighed. "Can you just release me from whatever this is? Don't worry the moment I get out of here, you won't ever see me again."

"Hey Pep, can you give us a minute." Tony said and the woman turned to him with a furrowed brow. "Please." the woman gave a nod before turning back to Matthew giving a slight pat on the knee before turning and leaving the pair to the adjoining room.

"You know I love that leaving my sister to die, somehow pushed you to go find Pepper and reconcile. You probably told her Rinny was dead, and that sealed the deal, huh?"

"You know what Mattie, you want to be an asshole, fine, but you leave Pepper out of it!" Tony snapped, grabbing a chair and sliding it to sit in front of the man. "What is this? Is this Ross? He is your new master, right?" Matthew chuckled with a shake of his head. "what does he want?"

"For some reason he thinks Steve or my sister will reach out to you and when that happened, he wanted eyes on you." Matthew replied turning back to the man.

"So that means she escaped?" Tony asked and Matthew shook his head. "Matthew, look, I looked into that ship, and I was going to-"

"Were you going to go back for her?" Matthew asked. "They tortured her Tony. They were looking for her mother who has the secret to make the perfect unstoppable soldier in her head. But you know Rinny, she didn't talk." Tony dropped her head once again, letting a hand slide through his hair. "Let me go Tony. You won't see me again."

"Bucky Barnes killed my parents." Tony said plainly, lifting his eyes back to Matthew. "And she-"

"She didn't know Bucky killed your parents." Matthew said with a shake of his head.

"No, she did know that their deaths weren't and accident. And she knew HYDRA was behind it and she didn't tell me." Tony replied before standing to his feet and walking over to the window. "Steve knew and didn't tell me and when I tried-"

"When you tried to kill Bucky, Steve stopped you. Then when you tried to kill Steve, Rinny stopped you." Matthew said, but Tony didn't turn to the man. "And since she wouldn't stand there and watch you kill people, you let her go off to destination unknown."

"You don't think I feel guilty about that?" Tony asked stalking back over to sit in front of the man. "You don't think I would do things differently if I could. I would Mattie."

"I don't care what you would've done, because it doesn't matter. Tony if I could, I would've understood why my sister was helping a man I wanted to kill. If I could, I would've been smart enough not to point a gun at her. I would've believed her from the start, but because I-" he looked at the man and sighed. "But because we didn't trust her, we ended up on the wrong side of the fight."

"Mattie-"

"Will you stop calling me that? She calls me that. Its her name for me." Matthew said before looking down to himself, once again. "Will you just let me go?" Tony sighed, before reaching into his pocket and grabbing his phone. He tapped a few buttons and suddenly the clamps just fell to the floor before coiling up into a box. The moment he was free, Matthew stood to his feet and stalked toward the door.

"Matt!" Tony called after the man, and despite the young man's anger, he stopped. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want your apologies, Tony." Matthew said, glancing back to the man. "I just want to know where my sister is, I want to know if the only niece I have has said her first words yet, you know I actually wouldn't mind seeing C." the man shrugged. "Things happened, and now we live with them." and with that the man turned and left.

Pepper heard the door, and finally came back to the room where she found Tony, just standing there looking at the door. She walked over, slipping her hand in his, before dropping her head to his shoulder.

"She's alive." Tony said suddenly, and Pepper lifted her head to look at him. "I knew she was alive, knew somehow, someway she'd get away from Ross."

"Does that mean you're going to go looking for her?" Pepper asked, trying to keep her tone void of the emotions that suddenly hit her.

"It means that she's alive and I'm fine with that." Tony replied turning to the woman, placing a hand on her cheek. "I should head back to New York, I have the feeling Mr. Parker is tangling himself in a web he may not be able to get himself out of."

There was an odd smell in the air as Katie moved about the dim lit hall. She was screaming in her head to turn, and leave and just go back home. It was strange though. Despite the screaming in her head, she kept walking, kept going further, trying to find whatever it is she was apparently looking for.

Katie came to a hall, and she didn't hesitate to turn. That's when she knew whatever was happening couldn't be normal. Her feet seemed to know where she was going in this building that looked like a battle had ravaged it's walls. Soon she found herself in a room, that was completely destroyed, as the walls seemed to be coming down, and crumpled bricks covered the floor. There was something about this room, something that she couldn't explain. She spun around unsure what about this room had drawn her.

"It's strange the things you can hold onto if you try your hardest." a voice spoke, and Katie whipped around and saw standing there the bald woman from her dreams, dressed in some sort of strange yellow garment. "Hello Katherine."

"You-" Katie found herself speechless. It's strange the moment you see something you only thought existed in your head.

"I wanted more time. I wanted to show you the world that's locked away from you, but I can't." the woman said with a slight smile, before glancing up. Katie followed her eyes suddenly seeing the ceiling cracking and some sort of light coming through. "There is a battle happening." Katie dropped her eyes back to the woman. "A battle, like the others, you are destined to attend."

"Destined?" Katie asked, unsure why that sounded so strange. The woman smiled with a sigh. "Who are you?"

"Someone rooting for you." the woman said, placing a hand over chest. "That feeling moving around you. That will lead you, you must follow it, only when you're controlling it."

"What does that-" before Kate could even ask the question, the woman was gone. "It's official. I've gone insane." Katie turned, sliding a hand across her face. "That feeling will lead you." she dropped her hand to her side. "Lead me where?" Katie closed her eyes, because at the moment she was at a loss. Unsure what was happening, or why she was just letting it happen. When she opened her eyes, ,she shook her head before turning. She decided this truly was insane, and she was going to leave and hope to hell she made it back before Clint.

She started to move out of the room, but something stopped her. Something she couldn't explain, just would not let her leave that room, and so she grit her teeth and turned around.

"What is it?" she muttered, closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh. "Just show me!" suddenly something hit Katie's shoulder and when she opened her eyes, she wasn't in that room anymore. She was outside, but if her eyes were seeing what she thinks she's seeing then she thinks she may be in Hong Kong. "It's official. I'm bat shit crazy."

Clint's eyes always scanned around the house when he pulled up. He was always watching for a sign that it wasn't safe, that something was wrong. At the moment, there were no sign, but for some reason he just had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right. He glanced back to his daughter who had fallen asleep during the drive. He smiled over to her, before stepping out, and going to pluck her from her car seat. Her head fell to his shoulder and he placed a kiss to the top of her head.

Once inside, noticed there wasn't the smell of food in the air. Since they arrived, Katie had taken up cooking to cure her boredom. She'd gotten a book of different recipes, and she decided that she was going to try all of them. Some of them were good, others were not. But walking into the house to smell of something cooking always brought a smile to Clint's face. It made this place feel real. Like a home.

Today there was no aroma in the air. Clint walked over to the kitchen to find it empty. His eyes glancing over to the mug of coffee he remembers seeing Katie holding before they left. He walks over, and with one hand feels the back of the cup, only to find its ice cold. His wife doesn't waste coffee. She's actually a bit of a coffee addict, so there's no way in hell she'd only drink half a cup.

Clint tightens his grasp on Natalia, his eyes searching for any irregularities, listening for any foreign sounds. If they'd been found, he'd be in handcuffs right now. He narrows his eyes before heading for the stairs only to stop when there's a knock at the door.

Clint slowly turns, because in all the months they've stayed in this house, no one has ever knocked on that door.

Was she dreaming?

Katie pinched herself, and when she felt the pain, she knew this really was happening. One moment she's in a wreck of a room, and the next, she's walking down the street in Hong Kong.

People were running, screaming in fear, buildings were destroyed and Katie lifted her eyes to see the source. There was something happening with the sky. It was broken somehow, and something was coming through. Something dark, but filled with ominous colors at the same time. "What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?" she spun around figuring the sky being torn by another dimension screamed Asgardian, and she hoped to spot Thor, the only person that could make her not feel nervous right now. She began walking, foolishly in the direction peopled seemed to be running from. There were two men up a head who didn't seem to be running in fear. As Katie neared she heard them speaking.

"The Dark Dimension. Dormammu is coming."

"Dor-who?" Katie spoke suddenly and both men turned to her, and Katie's eyes went wide because she recognized them instantly. She took a step back, once again speechless at the sight of people she only thought existed in her head. "Wait, I'm dreaming, this is-" she slid her hands through her hair, and closed her eyes because these things just didn't happen in reality.

"Katherine." Katie opened her eyes and looked over to the man who looked a bit more kempt since she last saw him. she looked at him in confusion, because he'd just said her name. Some guy from one of her dreams is standing in front of her and he just said her name. "She said you would be here."

"Who-" Katie shook her head. "How do you know my name?" she glanced over to the other man who stared in shock as well. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she turned back to the man who somehow knew her name, her eyes dropping to the necklace around his neck, the green gem catching her attention. Katie reached out, wrapping the stone with her hand, and it was as if nothing else mattered.

"Katherine, look at me." the man said, but Katie was too engrossed. He turned to his friend who glanced to him in confusion. "At some point we're going to have a conversation about this, but right now we need to stop—" he glanced up to the sky seeing the dimension spreading further and further. "We need to stop that."

"Not stop, Stephen." Katie said suddenly lifting her eyes to the man. The words weren't hers, or at least it didn't feel like they were. There was something about the stone in her hand, the energy emitting from it. It was strange but it was as if the words came from it. But that's not possible...was it? It was still speaking, and so she continued. "Undo." he looked at her for a moment, when it clicked. She released the necklace and took a step back, before Stephen turned, and so naturally lifted his hands spinning in a circular motion, and suddenly everything started moving backwards. Katie stood there, and watched as everything around them was being rewound back. Collapsed buildings being rebuilt, injured, or dead people, now back and alive. Katie looked around, wondering why she seemed immune to whatever was happening around them. Her eyes lifted to the sky to see the dimension that was spreading above them now getting smaller.

Stephen dropped his hands, and turned to Katie whose eyes stayed to the sky. His eyes caught a piece of flying debris that was coming right toward her, and he quickly grabbed her shoulders, pulling her out of the way. She turned to him with a shake of her head, her eyes still not quite believing what they were seeing.

"We have to move." Stephen told her, and she nodded before they began running, trying to dodge people and flying objects as everything seemed to be going back to it's original state. Suddenly Stephen was tackled, and Katie stopped to see an unfamiliar man in a familiar yellow garment, but she could tell from his dark eyes that he was the enemy here. Katie took a step to help him, but was grabbed from behind by a woman who didn't seem affected by the rewind thing that was happening around them either. The woman threw a punch, but Katie dropped missing it, before spinning, grabbing the woman's other arm, twisting it behind her back and shoving her to the ground. Her eyes widened, and she had to quickly jump back to dodge a car that sped by. Katie turned to Stephen who was still engaged in a fight of his own, before looking back at what was happening around her. Everything was moving so quickly, and Katie had to keep moving. This seemed so unreal, and even though Katie was standing right here witnessing it, she still didn't believe it. There was a sudden cloud of smoke and dust that took over the area and blinded them, and Katie spun around unsure where to move, until she's bumped from behind so hard that she's almost thrown across the road. She lets out a grunt falling on her back, before turning to see Stephen lying there beside her. There were nearing footsteps and she quickly stood to her feet, slightly wobbling as she tried to steady herself. The man in yellow stalked toward Stephen, and for some reason...some completely stupid reason, Katie moved to stand in front of him.

Here she was totally and completely out of her element. Practically seconds from a mental breakdown, and there's still a bit of boldness within her. Still that fire inside of her that keeps fighting even when nothing around her makes sense. Right now she was prepared to fight in a battle she has no doubt is beyond her realm of belief. And yet she stands tall, and stares the man down.

"What are you?" he's asks, his eyes studying her, and noticing something strange about her instantly. He just can't figure out what.

"Angry." Katie breathed, just as Stephen's friend suddenly threw out some sort of glowing whip that grabbed the yellow man's ankle and tossed him into a wall that seemed to trap the man inside.

They stand and watch as everything keeps rewinding, and the dimension slowly goes away.

"Wong!" Stephen says, and he and his friend run over to someone. Katie's eyes are drawn to the sky, to the dimension, and the stars and she feels that familiar feeling that twists inside of her as she looks up to it.

"The sanctum is restoring, but they will attack it again. We have to defend it." she turns at Stephen's voice, glancing over to Katie, and his friend's follow his eyes. "Katherine—"

"Mordo." she says pointing to the man at Stephen's right, his name suddenly at the front of her mind, before turning to the man to his left. "Wong." she drops her eyes to the stone around Stephen's neck. "And let me guess, I'm here because of that." she met his eyes. "I'm not here to fight. You're going to figure out how to use that." she pointed to the green gem around his neck that she knew had to be an infinity stone. "It's time." she tilted her head as she looked at the stone once again. "Some people’s fear of their time running out, but not many understand the fact that some moments need to end." she met Stephen's eyes once again. "You will keep it safe at all costs." it was an order she found herself with the unspoken authority to give, and he simply gave her a nod, before she once again looked up to the sky. "I'm too close to him here." she didn't know what that meant. She didn't know who "he" was, but she felt with every fiber in her body that the statement was true.

Katie closed her eyes and turned around, and she could just feel it instantly. The moment she was some place else. She opened her eyes and found herself standing just outside of her house and relief washed over her.

The plane ride back to New York was painfully silent, and less amusing than the flight to India. Pepper's eyes looked over to Tony who kept his eyes out the window, an untouched drink in his hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tony turned with raised eye brows at the question. "I can practically see the wheels spinning Tony. What's up?" Tony shook his head before taking a sip from his glass.

"Nothing, I'm fine." he pulled on a carefree smile, she knows he's learned to perfect even when it's a lie. "Just upset this trip was a bust."

"Tony, I'm sure Bruce is fine, we'll see him again." Tony gave a slight smile and a nod before looking back out the window. "But that's not who you're thinking about right now." he turned back to her and she just smiled. "You know can talk to me about her. You can tell me you miss her or that you're worried about her." Tony sat down the drink and looked over to the woman in surprise. "What?"

"You don't have to do that, Pep. I understand the pressure points of our relationship and that's one I don't plan on pressing again." Pepper turned away, hating that he was right. She knew the conversation she was trying to initiate would probably shred her insides, but she also knows the love of her life is sad.

"Tony—" she turned back to the man. "If our relationship can't stand the pressure of certain topics, then it's not as strong as I know it is. Talk to me."

Tony turned away, his hand scratching across the slight stubble on his chin before he lets out a sigh and turns back to Pepper, but he still didn't say anything and she just rolled her eyes.

"Fine, how about I start. You miss her."

"She lied to me."

"You miss tinkering with her in your lab, and blowing stuff up."

"She kept the truth about my parents from me, and that's unforgivable." he shook his head. "And we didn't blow stuff up." he tilted his head slightly. "Not often."

"You miss your weird genius moments where you're talking in your computer language that I don't understand."

"She wasn't who I thought she was."

"And yet you miss her."

"Pepper, really I don't miss her." Tony sighed in frustration before turning back to the window. "I nothing her." Pepper let out a snort and Tony turned to her.

"Tony you blackmailed that woman to work with you."

"I wanted her for her brain." he replied with a shrug and Pepper shook her head at the man.

"Tony you can lie to yourself all you want, but it will only hurt you in the end if you do. You need to feel what you're feeling and find a way to move forward."

"I can't forget what she did. I can't pretend that the betrayal isn't between us right now. Look she made a choice, and now she will live with it."

"And if any of that is true, so is one other thing."

"Don't say I—"

"You miss her Tony." the man threw his hands in the air in frustration before grabbing his glass and standing to his feet.

"I need another drink."

Katie had never been more happy to see this house than this very moment. The moment she saw it, she quickly rushed inside, her eyes darting around in search of her husband.

"Bart!" she called anxiously. She had no idea what time it was, or even what day it was, but she knew she needed to see Clint's face, knew she needed to just hold her daughter in her arms and never let her go. Ironic how time was not her friend at the moment. She rushed upstairs, hurrying into the bedroom and her eyes immediately went to the closet. She panicked the moment she saw his clothes were gone. She turned and headed down the hall, going into Natalia's room, and seeing her clothes and toys were also gone. "No, no, no." she rushed back down the stairs, relief only coming to her when she sees the man sitting at the kitchen table. "Bart." she walked over to him, only for him to stand to his feet to keep distance from her. "I know you're probably angry right now, but I have to explain the shit load of craziness that just happened." she glanced around before turning back to the man. "Where is Tai?"

"You left the house." he simply said, and Katie quirk a brow because he didn't answer her question.

"Bart—"

"We went to the market and then we came back, and you were just gone."

"Bart, I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now, but I promise you I can explain everything." Katie replies taking another step toward the man. "Where is Tai?"

"She's not here."

"I see that, but where exactly is she? Do you want to move again?"

"Actually no Kat, I don't want to move again. I really liked this place. But you left the house when we're being hunted right now. You know I thought you were in danger, I thought they found us." the man shook his head. "Then I find out you left voluntarily."

"Found out from who?"

"Does it even matter Kat?" he asked and Katie shook her head. "Why isn't this enough? Why is a quiet life with your husband and your daughter just not enough."

"It is!" she said, taking another step toward him, but he only backed away from him. "It was a run, that turned into something else. I'm not going anywhere."

"That's just it Kat, you're already gone." the man said before looking down to his watch then looking back over to the woman. "My daughter was supposed to grow up in a nice house, and have friends and go to school. I'm going to ensure that happens."

"Bart, where is my daughter?" the woman asked before the man's phone rang.

"I'm on my way." he said before ending the call and looking back over to the woman. "Kat—"

"You're leaving, and you're taking my daughter." she stated and the man couldn't even reply. She couldn't see how much this was breaking his own heart.

"You know when we were in that chapel in Vegas, and we stood at that altar and said vows, I meant every word."

"Except that you would stick by me through the tough times apparently!" Katie snapped. "Bart something is happening. I can feel it, and it's drawing me into it whether I like it or not. If you would just let me explain what—"

"And then I took another vow the day that little girl was born." he continued, not even listening to her excuses anymore. "I promised her that I would die before I let any danger came to her." he looked at the woman for a moment, taking a step toward her, his eyes cold. Something she never thought would see aimed at her. "And right now that's you. You're dangerous Kat." the woman turned away from his eyes with a shake of her head. She swallowed the lump in her throat, because the moment the words came out of his mouth, it was like a knife to the heart.

"You can't just take my daughter away from me. I'm her mother." she looked back to the man, placing a hand on her chest above her heart. "I am her mother and I am your wife, and I don't know what I will do if you walk out that door." Clint dropped his head at the words, and knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up if he didn't leave right now.

"Her safety comes before everything, right?" he asked looking back over to the woman. "Before everything." Katie stood there, and she could feel her body shaking. She watched as Clint turned, and she knows that she should go after him, that she should stop him from leaving and taking her baby, but she couldn't stop thinking about his words and the truth they held. She has been the most dangerous person in her daughter's life, and she can't blame the man for doing something about it.

The moment the door closes behind Clint, Katie just drops to the floor sobbing. Her world just walked out of the door, and now she doesn't know what she's going to do.

She doesn't even know how long she was on that floor when suddenly there were footsteps behind her, and at this point she didn't even care if it were enemy or friend.

"Katherine," a voice spoke, and she lifted her tear filled eyes to see Stephen. A part of her really wanted him to just be a figment of her imagination, and the last couple of hours to not have happened.

"You can't be real." she said with a shake of her head before dropping her eyes. "Because if you're real then I'm—"

"Then you're Katherine Barton." The man replies, before lowering himself to sit in front of her. "And I am Dr. Stephen Strange and you don't know this, but your random appearance earlier tonight helped me in ways I can never repay. So thank you. Why are you crying?"

"Because my husband just left me and he took our daughter with him." she looked up meeting his eyes with a shake of her head. "And I can't blame him, because I screwed up. I always screw up. It is my destiny to screw up and lose the people that I love." she dropped her head to her hands and sighed. Stephen sat there, watching the woman, looking for something. After a few moments of silence, she lifted her eyes back to the man. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know." Stephen replied honestly before reaching forward and taking her hand in his. "But I know you must come with me now." Katie furrowed her brow, before glancing over to the door. There was a small part of herself that believed Clint would come back for her, would just feel that she needed him, but he never did.

"He wouldn't just walk away." she whispered her eyes still on the door. "He wouldn't just leave me alone." she turned back to Stephen who looked at the woman unsure what to say to make her feel better in this moment.

"What if I told you that you were not alone." the man replied and Katie let out a sigh with a shake of her head before standing to her feet and stalking off. Stephen sat there for a moment before standing to his feet and following after the woman who hurried upstairs. When he found her, she was in a bedroom stuffing clothes into a bag.

"You're not real." Katie muttered to herself. "It's why he left and took my baby with him. Because whatever this is inside of me that sees you, and keeps finding these damn stones is ruining my life." she zipped up the bag, before stalking out of the door, only to appear back in the bedroom. She stopped and looked around in confusion before glancing over to Stephen who stood arms folded over his chest as he looked over to her. She glared at him before shaking her head, and once again stalking out of the room, only to end up right back in the bedroom. "Will you stop that!"

"Stop what? This isn't real, remember?" he said with a shrug of his shoulders, and Katie looked over to him before dropping her head. "Or all of it is real and it's happening to you for reason. I'm standing in this room in utter frustration for a reason."

"And what reason is that?" she asked looking over to him.

"Some strange woman showed up out of no where on Mount Everest and told me to believe in the impossible, and for some reason I did." he looked over to the woman and just shook his head. "I thought you were a figment of my imagination. Whenever I asked about you to the Ancient One, she always answered my questions with more questions until the moment she was gone."

"The moment before she was gone." Katie replied turning slightly remembering seeing the woman she thought was a figment of her own imagination. "I think I got her last few seconds." she looked back over to the man and stared at him as if searching for something inside of herself to rationalize this moment. Something to prove that she really wasn't crazy. "What did she tell you?"

"She said you were going to need help. You would need someone to keep you from getting lost."

"You're my compass." Katie replied remembering the words from a dream with a shake of her head, before turning back to the man, the pair standing in silence, until Katie speaks, her voice almost a whisper as if someone could be listening. "Something is coming. Something big and powerful that's not going to get knocked down by just the two of us."

"And how do you know this?" he asked, the woman speaking of things that have not yet happened only reminded him of the ancient woman who gave him a second chance at life.

The woman just shook her head, because even after all this time, this feeling moving inside of her, that seemed so strong, she still didn't know what it was.

"I don't know."

That night Katie seemed travel from Nepal to New York in just a matter of minutes through a door of spinning light created from Stephen simply spinning his hand. The moment she stood in the massive building that seemed so out of place on the streets of New York, her eyes looked around before Stephen's voice filter in.

"I'm still not completely sure where everything is, but I'm positive that if you get lost here I will probably find you." he said, and Katie turned to him with quirked brow and he just shrugged. "Or you could be lost forever. I'm just being honest. I will show you to your room." Katie took a step, but stopped to grab the handle of her bag, only to find her suitcase gone.

"Where—" she looked over to Strange who was already walking. "What the hell am I doing?" she shook her head before catching up to the man.

It was the dead of night when Katie sat freshly showered at the window listening to the bustling sound of a city that held so much of her. This was the last place she was supposed to be. With Ross, and probably a couple of more people on her ass, returning to this city was probably the last thing she should be doing. Well maybe not the last thing. She was currently holding the small flip phone Steve had given her, the one with two numbers programmed, debating on hitting the button on one of them. Her eyes glanced out the window once more, the sounds and lights of the city only reminded her of a simpler time when everything wasn't so screwed up. She glanced up to the starless sky and sighed thinking about her husband and daughter who felt the need to leave her. Her heart still ached, and she doesn't think it will go away until her eyes see them again. She glanced down to the phone once again, her finger hovering over that green button, and against her better judgment she just throws caution to the wind and presses it. She brings the phone to her ear, listening to a nerve wrecking ring. For a moment she doesn't think he will answer, and there's some relief in that. She's about to end the call, when the audible click of the line finally answers, but no sound follows. He doesn't say anything, and neither does she.

"Hey," she finally speaks, her voice not as strong as she hoped for in this moment. "Guess who's not dead?" he still doesn't say anything, only verifying her fear that this was a bad idea. "Right," she shook her head. "Right, this was a bad—"

Tony slips out of the bedroom onto the terrace, closing the door behind him. He glances back to make sure Pepper was still asleep before stepping over to the balcony.

"Of course this was a bad idea." she continued. "I won't call you again."

"I really did think you were dead." Tony finally spoke. "Like I replayed that moment I saw you being dragged unconscious to destination unknown, and I just turned around and left you there." the man looked over to the bright lights of the city "Never thought I'd be so angry with you, that I'd just not care what happened to you."

Katie dropped her head against the glass of the window, closing her eyes, and feeling like this call was a mistake with every passing second.

"It's fine, I don't blame you. I messed up." she chuckled dryly, as the truth of her words hit her. "And when I mess up, the people I care about leave me behind." the line was silent for a moment, before Tony once again spoke.

"Where's Robin Hood?" he asked, and the line was dead silent, and it was answer enough for him. He sighed, dropping his head. "Did he leave you and Natalia? Did he just walk out on his family, like a dirtbag?"

"No." she replied, lifting her head to once again trying to get lost in the lights of the city instead of the truth of her life. "He took her with him and just left me alone." saying it out loud seemed to twist that knife in her heart that much deeper. "I know I'm not supposed to call you, that you'd drawn that line, and I saw it, and it was very clear." she shook her head and sighed. "And this is my fault, and my problem, and I shouldn't pull you into it."

"Just—just tell me where you are."

Despite his feelings toward the woman, there was always that instinctual nagging inside of him needing to just help her when he knows she's reached the bottom.

Katie silently shook her head. "I'm not going to do that. This wasn't a call for help. It's just, I'm usually good at being on my own, I mean at one point in my life it was actually a preference. But then this guy told me I'd never be alone, and I believed him and now—" she slid a hand over her face. "Now he's gone, and he took my baby with him, and I don't know what to do. He was right, I was the dangerous one, I'm the one he needed to protect Tai from."

"Wait, what? Look I don't know what happened, but I have no doubt that you're the last person your daughter needs protection from." Tony said with a shake of his head. "Just tell me where you are, I will find you and—"

"No you're not, because that's not a conversation you'd be able to explain to Pepper." Katie says glancing over to the magazine that had the newly reunited couple on the cover. "You have your life back. That life that made sense before me, and right now I refuse to mess that up for you." she felt tears on her cheek, and she quickly wiped them away. "Which is why I'm going to hang up now, and you're going to pretend this call never happened." she fully intended to end the call, and try to not feel so pathetic and helpless right now, but she really never felt so lost as she did right now.

"The truth, my life before I met you was kind of a blur. I mean I was kidnapped, created an Iron Man suit, told the world I was Iron Man, but then someone broke through a firewall I worked years on to perfect. Then I met this someone, this woman who was scared, but tried her best not to show it. That woman got under my skin, and no matter how much I try, I just can't get her out."

"I gotta hang up now."

"I shouldn't have let Ross take you."

"I should've told you the truth about your parents." Silence followed the statement.

"You're not alone. As long as I'm alive, then you will never be alone, do you understand?"

The words needed to settle before anything else was spoken. So that intermittent silence that had become an occupant in this conversation, once again took over. And after the silence past, there was only one more truth that needed to be admitted.

"I miss you Kitten." Tony stated. Katie smiled at the stupid nickname she felt like she hadn't heard in ages. "Like really miss you."

A very selfish part of her just wanted to just tell him where she was, so he could sweep in and just save the day. She wanted so badly to snatch back part of her life that slipped through her fingers because of her disastrous curiosity. A part of her really wouldn't mind going back to Malibu to that lab in Tony's basement, and creating a magic that only existed between the two of them. But she loved him too much to do that. At the moment she was an anchor, dragging the people she loved into danger.

"I miss you too, Mr. Stark." she smiles and she knows he's smiling too. "I still have it Tony." Katie lifted her arm and looked down to the bracelet that she could never find it in herself to remove from her wrist. "I still have the bracelet, and the moment I step into something I might need help with, then I'll turn it on, but for now I'm going to let you try out happiness with that woman you're crazy about and wrangling your spiderboy."

"You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Probably not." she said with a shake of her head. "I helped you find him so you could stop him, not give him a complex. But that's neither here or there, I'm sure you're handling it."

"I am."

"Good, so I'm going to hang up now. For real this time." for the life of her, ending the call was the last thing she wanted to do. It was as if she were letting go of a life line she really needed right now, but she knew she had to. She knew what ever was pulling at her would only wreck more lives, and she wouldn't let that happen. "Goodbye Iron Ass."

"Nope, not goodbye." Tony replied. "We're never goodbye."

"Well then, see you later." she said, before the line finally ended.

Tony pulled the phone from his ear, and sighed, unable to rid himself of the sudden nervousness he felt.

"Tony?" the man turned to see Pepper who looked liked she'd just woken up, standing at the door of the terrace. "Is everything alright?" she looked to the phone in his hand with a frown. "Who's calling you this late?" Tony shook his head as he looked down to the phone before looking back up to her.

"Just Happy again, complaining about being a babysitter." Tony smiled as he walked over to her, and brought an arm around her waist. "Lets go back to bed." He gripped the phone in his hand as they headed inside.

Flying above the clouds usually gave Clint a calming feeling. At the moment it just wasn't happening. Nothing could make him calm, or feel less guilty about anything that has happened tonight. He walked away from his wife, the woman he loves, and he's not even completely sure why.

He felt eyes on him, but he wasn't sure yet that he could look over and not totally go ballistic, because right now that's what he thought would happen. He replayed the words he said to Katie, the words he was made to believe he needed to say.

"Clint—" he tensed at the voice, before finally turning to the woman who stared at him. "I know you're having second thoughts about this."

"Well of course I'm having second thoughts!" he growled, glancing down to his sleeping daughter who stirred in her sleep as she laid on his chest. He glanced back over to the woman and just shook his head. "You and your husband show up at my house, a house you're not even supposed to know about and—" he frowned as he remembered the things they said. "You told an impossible story."

"A story you obviously believe, or you wouldn't be here." she said and Clint shook his head before turning back to the window. "This is only temporary. You will be reunited before you know it." Clint gave a snort before turning back to the woman.

"Well if this thing is a big as you say it is, and she's the one in danger, I don't care what you say, I'm going back to my wife."

"Clint—"

"Cynthia." the woman turned her head to see her husband who was walking over. Martin's eyes turned to Clint and gave him a nod. "We wouldn't expect anything less, son."


	8. Chapter 8

_It was eerily quiet. And for a place as busy and bustling as New York City, that in itself was strange. The streets were baron, cars blocking the streets from what looks like multiple accidents._

_Katie walked down the middle of the street glancing in the cars, but there were no drivers at all. That's when she heard it. That deep, throaty laughter. The laughter that she instantly recognized, and always made her skin crawl. Katie slowly turned around, and was face to face with the monster who'd become a constant centerpiece of her dreams. Her eyes went to the gauntlet he wore proudly on his hand, the stones seemingly sparkling in their place along his knuckles. She looked up meeting his eyes._

" _One more left." he laughed as he rose his hand, and Katie frowned before bolting toward him, but before she knows it his fingers snap, and a blinding light swallows everything._

Katie's eyes snap open, and she sits up frantically trying to catch her breath, and calm the drum of her heart. She takes a couple of breaths, before turning, her eyes going wide at the sight of a red cloak just standing there at her door as if watching her.

"Strange!" the cloak quickly went flying out of the room.

Katie stalked down the halls, her eyes searching for the man. She'd been here for about a month, and still gets turned around. She stops for a moment suddenly unsure where she is. She turns down a hall and continues her search.

"I've told you to keep that stupid security blanket locked in a closet somewhere!" she stopped when she felt a presence, but didn't see anyone. She slowly turned, closing her eyes, before suddenly reaching out, feeling his arm and pulling him forward. When she opens her eyes, she sees whatever cloaking spell he'd been hiding behind is gone allowing her to finally see him. "It was watching me sleep."

"Well that is kind of impossible because it doesn't even have eyes, so watching you do anything-" he saw the glare in her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Fine, I will talk to it." Katie folded her arms over her chest. "Alright, I'm not going to talk to it, it's an article of clothing, and-" she swat his arm before turning and walking away from him. A smile came to his lips before he went to catch up to her. "So is there a reason, you're in a mood today?"

"I thought the shit story that is my life sort of justified my mood." she said glancing over to him with a sarcastic smile. "I mean, my husband left me and took my daughter, I keep having weird dreams, I'm stuck here with you, and-" their eyes look up as Wong walks by sipping on a cup of tea. "And for the life of me I can not beat that man in checkers!" she glances back at the sound of Wong's laughter and she just shakes her head and continues to walk. Stephen doesn't say anything and she glances over to him as he silently walks beside her. "This is where you say something reassuring and poetic to give me hope for the future." the man lets out a snort before turning to her. "Why do I even stay here?"

"Because you have no where else to go." he said before walking ahead of her. "At the moment, I am the only friend you have."

"Friend is a stretch!" Katie called after him. "I like Wong better than you!" she heard him laugh and and she rolled her eyes.

"Five minutes!" he called back to her. "I suggest you change, kitten pajamas are not permitted during training." she looked down to her pajama pants and smirked at the kittens that covered then, before looking back up to see the man was gone.

Katie doesn't know how her life turned into a never ending episode of karate kid, but here she was, sitting cross legged in one of the sanctums many rooms, the sunlight filtering in. Her eyes are closed, her breathing slowed as she tries to focus. After a few moments she opens her eyes, lifts her hands and begins spinning them just as she's seen Stephen do so many times. And just as she expects, nothing happens. She looks over to Stephen who sits across from her, his eyes closed as well not even paying attention to her. She narrows her eyes at him, before a sinister thought pops into her head, and so she reaches up to grab his nose, only for his hand to quickly shoot up and grab her wrist

"You know the first time, it was funny," he says, eyes still closed, and Katie attempts to pull her arm from his grip. "I mean I didn't laugh, but I remember thinking it was funny, but now after many attempts, it's just plain sad." he lets go of her hand and opens his eyes.

"This is stupid. I don't need to learn stupid magic tricks, just give me a gun, and I'm good."

"Fine." he says and before she knows it, there's a glock in his hand, and he hands it to her. She looks down hesitant before poking it to make sure it's real. The moment she touches the cool steel, her eyes widen a bit, before she grabs the gun. "Now shoot me." she looks over to the man with a quirked brow.

"Don't tempt me." she mutters, before pulling out the magazine, and checking, actually shocked that it was loaded. "You just handed me a loaded firearm." she looked over to the man with a smile. "You crazy bastard."

"Well there is a lesson in everything." he says with a wink, and before she knows it, he's just gone. She turns, expecting him to just pop up behind her, but he's not. Instead her head whips around at the sound of multiple footsteps, and without warning the door burst open and in swarms a full on swat team, all with rifles pointed at her. She jumps to her feet, her hand still gripping the glock. Suddenly the team begins moving aside, to let someone walk in, and for some reason she's not surprised at the sight of Secretary Ross standing right in front of her.

"You really thought you could hide from me, huh Banks?" that annoying smirk planted on his face underneath that stupid mustache. "Well I always knew I'd find you, knew you'd slip up, and I'd get to put you right back into your little box." Katie's jaw clenched and without really thinking, she lifts the gun in her hands and points it at the man and he laughs. He's there standing at the end of her gun, and he laughs. "C'mon Banks, you're not that stupid. You'd be dead before your finger could even attempt to move to the trigger."

"First of all, my finger is already on the trigger, and second I think my death would be a whole lot sweeter if I got to watch the life leave your eyes before mine." he simply laughs again, and Katie just rolls her eyes before dropping the gun to her side.

"You give up?"

"Well no, because this isn't real." Katie says lifting her head, looking for Stephen. "Ross wouldn't draw this out. He'd have a bag over my head, and would already be dragging me out the door. I've burned him way too many times for a little chit chat." Suddenly the swat team is gone, but Ross is still standing there, a smile on his face, and something about seeing him just rubs her the wrong way. Her thoughts go back to that stupid meeting about the accords and how that day seems to spin her entire world out of orbit. "I was fine. My life was good, and then you had to call that stupid meeting." she knew he wasn't real, knew she wouldn't feel true gratification, but she once again lifted her gun to the man. "You turned my friends against me you bastard! You fed on grief and guilt and you tore apart a family I really needed."

"Then shoot me." he said, and she was tempted. That finger on the trigger was itching to just twitch slightly and wipe that smirk off his face. She narrowed her eyes at the man, before turning to finally see Stephen standing, propped against the wall watching her as if this were some kind of show.

"Shoot him. You have your gun, that's all you need right?" Katie's eyes turned back to Ross and she just shook her head before turning away from the man, and with a wave of Stephen's hand the illusion of Secretary Ross was gone. Katie looks down to her hand, and sees the gun is gone as well before looking back over to Stephen who’s still watching her before pushing himself from the wall, walking over and lowering himself back to the floor, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. Katie glares down to him for a moment before rolling her eyes and lowering herself to the floor as well.

"Hey Stephen."

The man lets out a dramatic sigh of annoyance, before opening his eyes and looking over to the woman.

"What is it-" before he could finish the sentence, Katie's fingers were squeezing his nose and he just rolls his eyes. "You're a child." she just laughs as squeezes again.

"Honk, honk." she laughs before dropping her hands back to her lap and closes her eyes. Stephen looks at her for a moment, a slight tug on his lips that he fights before closing his eyes once again.

She knew at some point her boldness would rear it's ugly head again. When Stephen brought her to the Sanctum, she told herself she'd stay inside, where she and the people around her would be safe. The first time she told the man her plan, he looked at her like she was crazy. He told her he didn't bring her here to hide, and that it's not in her nature. Every time she's even tried to hide, someway, somehow she just ends right back in front of the eyes she'd been running from. She knew he was right, even though she would never tell him that.

And now when she steps out that door, she remembers who she is. She knows how to hide in plain sight, she knows how to evade anyone who tails her.

After her training, Katie decides she needs to get out of the Sanctum for a while, and so after she showers and changes, she skips down the stairs only to stop when she see Stephen blocking the door, arms folded over his chest.

"Was there something you needed?"

"I'm coming with you."

Katie shakes her head wildly, holding up her hands as she walks over to the man.

"Absolutely not. I see way too much of you as it is. My walks outside are just for me to-"

"Walk past the Avenger's Tower in hopes that you bump into your old friend?" Katie's eyes go wide and she swats his arm. "I'm not following you, I-"

"Definitely sounds like you're following me, you creepy little stalker. No wonder your security blanket is like a mini stalker." she says with a shake of her head. "And I only walked by once, and for your information, I did see him, and I didn't go running to him. I know I can't do that, and frankly its none of your business." he silently stares and she rolls her eyes because she knows whether she walks out of this place alone, or by his side, they were both walking out of here. "You're so annoying. Lets go." she shoves him out of the way, before spotting Wong. "Hey Wong, we're going on a group trip apparently, did you want to go?" the man gave a snort, but shook his head.

"I don't think so, but I wouldn't turn down a warm pretzel from the cart on the corner." he says before continuing up the stairs. "Extra cheese!"

"What is with him and those pretzels?" she asks over to Stephen who just shakes his head.

"No idea." he glances over to her, before pulling open the door, and letting him past. "She devils first." she sticks her tongue out at the man before slipping her baseball cap on and walking out, and he simply shakes his head before following behind her.

Katie assumed their walk would be respectfully silent. And after a few moments, she was relieved when he seemed to have the same understanding. Soon they ended up at a bridge that overlook the Atlantic Ocean, and they stood just admiring the waters. Her mind drifts to a moment of she and Clint playing with Natalia in one of those little kiddie pools and how the little girl's laughter seemed to fill her with a warmth that was incomparable. For just a little while they were happy, and not thinking about the world that was looking for them and trying to steal them away. And Katie couldn't help but feel that she ruined it.

"I don't get it." his deep voice said, and Katie rolled her eyes, and looked over to him. "What's the point of just looking out to water." he glances over to her, seeing the annoyance in her eyes. "C'mon, I know you're thinking it too."

"Aren't you supposed to be the enlightened one between the two of us?" she mutters, turning and walking away. He walks beside her, and she glances over and shakes her head. "Why are you here?"

"Would you believe I simply wanted the pleasure of your company?" he asked, and he noticed her quirked brow and just shook his head. "Yeah, neither do I. I wanted to see how you're handling your dreams." Katie took in a deep breath as she turned away from him. She didn't like to talk about her dreams when she was awake. She liked to forget about them, and even though that still hasn't worked, she still had hope one day it would.

Stephen knew the dreams were more than just dreams. He knew that they were probably prophetic of something to come, but he didn't want to pressure her about it. It was one of the last pieces of advice he'd gotten from the Ancient One about his impending role in the woman's life. He was to guide her, not lead her, which never really made sense to him.

"Well I'm not waking up screaming anymore, so I'd say I'm handling them pretty well." she replied walking over to the curb and holding her hand out for a nearing taxi. Stephen quirked a brow when the taxi stopped and she opened the door. She stopped and looked back to him. "You knew exactly where I've been going, you little stalker." she shook her head before climbing into the car, and fought another tug of his lips before climbing inside.

When they stepped out of the taxi, Stephen looked over to Katie who seemed to look at the building for a moment before she turned to him.

"How long have you known he's been here?" she asked him and Stephen sighed.

"It is my duty to be aware of any and all other worldly beings who come to Earth." he replied and she just shook her head.

"So you knew this whole time and didn't do a thing about it?"

"What exactly was I supposed to do?" he asked, and Katie just growled under her breath before climbing up the steps, and walking inside. Stephen glanced around, before following after her. He spotted Katie at the front desk signing in.

"Your grandfather is in the sun room today." front desk receptionist told her with a smile before lifting her eyes and spotting Stephen. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, I-" Katie looks back to him, tempted to accuse him of being a stalker and having the police called. He looks over to her, noticing the smirk on her face and his eyes give a slight warning as if knowing what she was thinking. She just rolled her eyes before turning back to the receptionist.

"This is my older brother. Like really older-" she leans in slightly. "I mean he's finally accepted the gray hair after a lifetime of bad dye jobs." Stephen loudly clears his throat and Katie can't help but fight her own laughter. "He's going to be visiting our grandfather as well." she looks over her shoulder. "You have to sign in, bro." he sighs, before walking over and scribbling an illegible signature on the sign in sheet. She turns back to the receptionist and smiles. "Thanks, I know where he is." she turns and Stephen quickly turns to walk beside her. "So you're here to find out what my visits are about, huh?" she looks over to him with a shake of her head. "You scared of another alien invasion." she laughs, before tripping over a flower pot that's suspiciously in the middle of the hall. She lands on the floor with a thud and glares up to Stephen who simply steps over her and keeps walking. She glares in annoyance, but for some reason she smiles, brushing off her clothes before catching up to the man.

"You were saying?"

"I was saying that you're an ass, doctor." she replied before shoving his arm and moving in front of him toward the sun room. She walks inside, her eyes looking over the patients, before spotting the one she'd come to see, sitting at the window, staring out to the city. She walks over to him and places a hand on his shoulder, but he doesn't react. He never does. "Hello Odin." she places a kiss to his cheek, and walks over and slides to the floor to sit across from him. She always expects his eyes to finally look to her, but they don't, they never do. She looks over to Stephen, who stands at slight distance, his eyes looking over to Odin as if studying him. "Something is wrong with him."

"Well that is kind of obvious."

"Do you know what is wrong with him?" Katie asked turning back to Odin, his eyes still out the window.

"I haven't the faintest clue." Stephen replies with a sigh before turning to the woman. "So is this what you do? You just look at him?"

"No, I talk to him. Let him know whatever is wrong with him, I'll figure it out, tell him I'll try to find Thor, or find out who did this to him."

"All impossible promises." Stephen replies and Katie smiles as she looks up to the man in the wheelchair.

"Well believing in the impossible has shaped my life thus far." she chuckles lightly before glancing over to the man. "It's also what kind of makes, you, you." his eyes look over to her. "Stop pretending you're not as enlightened as I know you are. Because I find it hard to believe that every thing that has happened to you, everything you are, you would've gotten if you didn't start believing that things aren't as impossible as you thought." she looks back over to Odin, and she sees a smirk on his face and she smiles and stands up and puts herself in his line of sight. "I know you can hear me, I know you're in there, and I also believe that if you didn't want to be here, you wouldn't." she tilts her head slightly, his eyes still not meeting hers. "You're waiting for something. But what?" He doesn't answer, and she doesn't expect him to. She lets out a sigh, before once again placing a kiss to his cheek. "You are not alone." she whispers to him, before standing up straight and walking out of the room.

The walk back to the sanctum is quiet, and Katie revels in it. When she spots the food truck on the corner, she heads over.

"Can I get a warm pretzel, extra cheese on the side, and a hot dog with everything." she rolls her eyes before looking over to Stephen. "Would you like anything, stalker?"

"A hot dog sounds good." he replies , and Katie shakes her head before turning back to the vendor. "Two hot dogs." she says and the vendor gives a nod before going about getting their food. Katie's eyes skim the magazines on the rack, and one catches her eye, and she plucks it, a slight sad smile on her face. Stephen walks over, glancing over her shoulder at see what she's looking at.

"Tony Stark, and CEO Pepper Potts engaged." he reads the headline, before his eyes look to Katie who still hasn't turned away from the photo of the couple whose smiling foolishly at each other.

"You're doing it, Iron Ass." she whispers before sliding the magazine back on the rack, and letting out a sigh and looking over to Stephen. "Stop looking at me." she flicks his nose before turning back to the vendor.

They're walking back to the Sanctum, both enjoying their hot dogs when Stephen looks over to the woman.

"It's a bad idea." he says suddenly and she turns to him in confusion. "You were going to meet him at the bridge, but he spotted me and walked off. He's been following us ever since." Katie looked at him with narrowed eyes. "He's CIA."

"He's my brother."

"Yeah, and he's still CIA, and he doesn't get to know where the sanctum is." he replied before turning and taking another bite of his hot dog. She watched as he didn't move, and she figures he was waiting for her to go talk to him. She let out a sigh, before handing him the bag with Wong's pretzel, and turning and crossing the street. She only walked a few feet before taking a seat on bench near a bus stop. It didn't take long before there was someone sitting beside her. A smile came to her lips before she turned to the familiar face.

"You're not supposed to follow me, Mattie." Matthew shook his head before turning to her.

"Well you show up back in this city, where there are dozens of eyes looking for you and you won't even tell me where you're staying or who that guy is."

"He's my friend. He's annoying as hell, but right now, he's the only person I can even be in contact with, without putting him in danger. Which is why I wanted to meet you today." Matthew shook his head before turning away. Katie reached over and grabbed his hand. "Mattie, it's too dangerous."

"I don't care." he replied looking back over to her. "You're my sister, and when you're in trouble and that bastard of a husband has left you and took your kid—" Matthew got lost in his anger for a moment. "I'm literally going to beat the shit out of him the next time I see him. I thought he was a good guy, thought he was gonna take care of you, but he-"

"Matt-"

"You're not going to change my mind about this. He's a dead man when I find him." he turned back to his sister and she gave his hand a squeeze. "You and me, Rinny." Katie heard the sadness in his voice and sighed, dropping her head to his shoulder.

"I know, but this isn't forever. This is just how it has to be until I find a way to pull my life out of the hole I dug."

"And I can help you. I don't like not knowing where you are. You're right here, and I don't want to just let you disappear again."

"Mattie, you will never have to worry about me never seeing you again. I'm going to fix this, and get back my life. One where I can talk to you, without this stupid Yankees hat, and checking for eyes lingering on me for too long." Katie lifted her head and placed a kiss to his cheek before standing to her feet. "And you can't keep going off the grid. Your boss is going to notice."

"My boss is in Korea on a case trying to sell diamonds to a lunatic." Matthew replied standing to his feet as well. "Rinny, I just-" he shook his head. "I miss you, and your annoying voice." Katie smiled to the man before placing a hand on his cheek.

"I'm going to fix this, but in the mean time, if you want family, you should talk to Tony." Matthew groaned at the suggestion. "You have to forgive him."

"He let the Secretary drag you away, and didn't lift a finger to save you."

"And you pointed a gun at me!" she replied with shrug. "But I forgave you. Do you want to know why?"

"Because I'm your brother, and families can work through things like pointing guns at each other, or working with the guy who tortured them."

"He's your family too, despite your anger with him." Katie shook her head. "He was angry with me, he'd just found out some devastating news and-"

"He just walked away."

"Yeah, he did, but I forgave him." Katie shoved his shoulder, and Matthew looked down to her. "Because I know that man, Mattie. I know his heart, and I know he regretted that decision every day after it happened. So stop being a little girl, and go play with your friend."

"You're so annoying, and yet I love you." he replied bringing his arms around her in a hug. "We're going to figure this out, right Rinny?"

Katie let out a sigh, knowing she as the big sister needed to reassure her little brother. She didn't have an answer to his question, and so she did the only thing that came to her mind in this moment. She pulled back, flicked his nose.

"I hate when you do that." he replied with a chuckle before finally releasing his hold and taking a step back to hail a cab. A taxi began driving over, and Matthew looked over to Katie. "Oh, I forgot to ask, seriously who is this friend with the gray highlights?" Katie laughed with a shake of her head. "Is he a good guy?"

"Well, yeah." she replies with a shrug. "He's a strange one though." Matthew seemed confused by that, but a taxi appeared beside him, and so with one final wave to his sister, he stepped inside. Katie knew not to show how heart broken she felt the moment that cab drove away, but she knew it was for the best. With a deep breath, she turned and headed back to the sanctum.

She found Stephen sitting on the steps to the sanctum looking up to the sky. Her eyes followed his as to see what had caught his attention.

"Alien invasion?" she asked walking over to take the seat on the step beside him.

"Not at the moment." he turned looking over to the woman who eyes were closed as she lifted her head to the sky. "How did it go?"

"As best as it could." she replied opening her eyes and looking over to the man. "I gotta get my life back."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" he asked and Katie shrugged, looking back up to the sky, always expecting there really to be something abnormal up there.

"Well I'm assuming the first step is tackling whatever is coming."

"And you still have no idea what that is?"

"Well according to my dreams, it's the impossible."

"You know you can't pick and choose which impossible things to believe and those which you don't. It's all or nothing."

"It's all or nothing." Katie mocked, in a voice Stephen believes was supposed to sound like him. She turned flicking his ear before standing up and walking inside the sanctum.

Stephen let out a sigh, before glancing up to the sky again. Even though she's gone, he still feels the presence of the Ancient One in the wind some times.

"You're probably laughing this up, aren't you?" he shakes his head before standing and walking inside as well.

Pepper Potts had a smile on her face that absolutely nothing in this world could wipe away. She currently stood in a beautifully decorated grand hall, surrounded by friends, family and colleagues. Sure it was their second engagement party, but she didn't think about that. She thought about the man on the other side of the room, currently engaged in a conversation with one of her cousins, and the look on his face is genuine. Tony Stark, the Iron Man, was here, completely with her. For the longest time she thought she could never have him like that. That a part of him would always be somewhere else...with someone else.

It was as if Katie never existed. He never brought up her name, and neither did she since that run in with Matthew and that plane ride. A part of her is a happy about the fact that she's no longer wondering where or who is tugging on the strings of his heart, but another part of her seems nervous. It wasn't like Katie was dead, she could literally just walk through the door, and it's that moment she's afraid of. Even to this day, with all the promises he's made her, a part of her will still be afraid of the _other woman_ in Tony's heart. She never quite understood her feelings on the whole thing. She knew Tony and Katie's relationship wasn't romantic or sexual, but it was that connection they had. That intimate connection that only they had, that made her embarrassingly jealous which she hated.

Tony caught her eyes on him and smiled. He muttered something to her cousin, before sauntering over to her, bringing his arms around her, and tugging her onto the dance floor.

"I can't believe you were actually engaged in what looked like an interesting conversation with my cousin, Nathan." Tony shrugged, with a smirk. "He's literally the dullest person in our family. Did he tell you about his potato shrine."

"He did, even showed me some photos I don't think I can get out of my head." Tony replied, still wearing a stupid smile that Pepper couldn't help but return.

"Then why are you smiling?"

"Because I remembered that I am about to marry the love of my life, so dull conversations about potatoes just don't phase me anymore." Pepper smiled up to the man, biting the corner of her lip, completely happy in this moment. Tony leaned in to bring his lips to hers, when suddenly someone taps his shoulder.

"Mr. Stark, Mr Stark." Tony lifted his head, and looked over to Pepper who seemed to laugh at his expression. "Thank you so much for inviting me to your engagement party."

"Hey Pete." Tony says still swaying along with Pepper, slyly distancing them from the teenager.

"Congratulations by the way," Peter continued, not getting the hint and only following the couple. "I brought you a gift. It's on the table." he looked back at the table filled with gifts. "It's somewhere in the pile." he turned back to the couple, frowning when he noticed they were further away, and so he brushed past people to get back to them. "It's a candle by the way. My aunt picked it out. She said it's one of the best kinds. I wouldn't know because-"

"Hey, Pete. We're sort of trying to have a moment. You get that right?" Tony asked, and Peter looked from Pepper to Tony, as if only now realizing his interruption.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you probably want to-" he gestured with his hands toward Tony and Pepper before dropping his hands and shaking his head. "I'm just going to-" he pointed across the room, before turning and heading back over to the food table which seemed to be his safe zone for the party seeing as he was probably the youngest person here, and didn't know anyone besides Tony and Happy who were both occupied with their dates. Peter grabbed another cookie before turning back and looking out to the people. There were a few people who looked vaguely familiar, like he might've seen them on television or something, but no one he felt comfortable just having a conversation with.

"You didn't sneak in, did you?" Peter turns at the voice, and looks over to some guy beside him. "I mean it's cool if you did, it's just, you look twelve so you stand out. You should at least try to look like one of these uppity business people." Peter looked confused, turning away for a moment. "Stand like you got a stick up your butt, you'll blend right in." Peter, despite being totally freaked out by the random guy talking to him, laughed.

"I uh, didn't sneak in. Mr. Stark invited me. We're like really good friends." The guy looked over to him for a moment before letting out a snort, and going about looking at the food.

"Table full of food, and the bastard doesn't even have the little sandwiches I like." the man shook his head, and Peter looked at him, still confused. He looked back over to Peter with a furrowed brow. "I'm Matt." he held out a hand.

"Peter." Peter hesitantly shook Matthew's hand. "Did you sneak in here?"

"Actually I did." Matthew replied grabbing a grape, and tossing it in his mouth before grabbing a flute of champagne and walking into the crowd. Peter frowned for a moment figuring he should tell someone about the party crasher. His eyes scan the crowd, and the first person he sees is Happy who’s finally alone.

Peter quickly sifts through the crowd, muttering apologies as he bumps into them. The moment Happy seems him, he rolls his eyes.

"Look kid, tonight is my night off. I just want to have fun and celebrate my friend’s engagement. And you have that look in your eyes like you're going to screw that up."

"I'm sorry Happy, but I just ran into some guy who says he wasn't invited to the party." Peter expected more of a reaction from the man, but he simply took another sip from his glass. "Shouldn't we call security or something?"

"Listen, kid, turn around and look." Peter sighed, and turned and looked at all the people at the party.

"Ok, what am I looking at?"

"Hundreds of people, and maybe fifteen percent don't have an invitation to this party, and that's probably a low estimation. Tony's parties are one of the most crashed parties I've been to. Look as long as they don't cause trouble, they can enjoy the festivities." he gave Peter a pat on the shoulder. "Now have fun, this is a party." Happy looked up spotting the blonde he'd been chatting with earlier, and she gave him a wink. "And if you will excuse me-" Happy moved around Peter who let out a sigh. Maybe Happy was right, maybe he was worrying about nothing.

Peter turned about to head back over to the food table for more cookies when he spotted Tony and Pepper. The couple were talking, and smiling, and Peter couldn't help but smile either. His eyes drifted to the right of the couple, suddenly aware of the Matthew guy getting closer to them.

"Oh no." Peter said, before once again sifting through the crowd. The moment he was close enough, he saw Matt stalking toward Tony and Pepper. He glanced around, just to make sure no one was looking at him, before pointed his wrist, and shot a small web around the man's ankle causing him to trip. He didn't expect the fall to gain too much attention, but Matthew bumped into a waiter carrying a tray of champagne. The waiter stumbled, dropping the tray, and causing a crash to echo throughout the room, causing the whole party to stop and stare. Peter stood there, slack jawed, seriously not expecting to cause a scene. Tony walks over to see what is happening, and Peter goes over to him to explain.

"Mr. Stark, this guy wasn't invited to the party and I saw him walking toward you and Ms. Potts and thought something bad was about to happen, so I-" Tony walked over in time to see Matthew sitting on the floor trying to pull the web from his ankles.

"Matt?" Matthew lifted his eyes in confusion, before looking over to Peter, and Tony did the same.

"Oh, so you two know each other?" Peter asks, now regretting his actions.

The two men were silent as they stood alone on the grand balcony of the hall. Both with a glass of bourbon in their hands.

"So that's the spider kid, huh?" Matthew suddenly asked with a snort before taking another sip from his glass. "Shooting young for your new recruits for the Avengers."

"What are you doing here, Matt?" Tony looked over to the man, really not expecting to see him. "After our last meeting, I figured you and I wouldn't be seeing each other. Did Secretary Ross send you?"

"No, he does have an actual job outside of being a jackass." Matt replied still looking out to the city. "So you're closing down the tower?" Tony didn't say anything and Matthew knew they were going to have to talk with words which he really didn't want to do. He let out a sigh, before turning to Tony. "You left my sister to die."

"Is that why you're here? Matt, I told you-"

"Stop talking for a sec, ok.?" Matthew dropped his head for a moment before looking back up to Tony. "You left my sister, the only person I'd kill for, and that-" he pointed at Tony. "You weren't supposed to do that. You were-" Matthew shook his head. "You were like a brother to me." he looked back up to Tony. "I know people say that, but we hung out, and we told stupid, totally offensive jokes, that we both would laugh at like idiots. We worked in your lab, you talked to me about Pepper, and I talked to you about-"

"Whatever chick you picked up from my office." Tony chuckled with a shake of his head. "I was living vicariously through you." he stopped laughing and sighed. "Matt, leaving Katie behind, walking away, even though I was mad with her, still was the hardest thing I've done. I told myself it wasn't, that whatever happened, would happen. So I came home that night, drank an impossible amount of alcohol, and tried to forget her." he shook his head. "I don't know how I got myself to believe that I could just erase years of memories that woman had clawed herself into." he looked back over to Matt and took a sip from his glass. "Well obviously it didn't work. The guilt started to eat away at me. I went looking for that damn ship that mysteriously disappeared. I harassed Ross for answers, but he didn't even take my calls."

"And in between that you reconcile with Pepper, get engaged and live happily ever after." Matthew lifted his glass to the man before downing the rest of his drink. "I shouldn't have come here." Matthew turned and headed back toward the party, fully intending to just go to his car and drive away.

"Then why did you, Matt?" Tony turned and watched as Matthew stopped walking, and let out a deep sigh. "You came to say something, so just say it." Matthew turned back to face the man and gave a nod.

"You left my sister to die." Matthew said again. "And I was on that plane right beside you." Tony looked up to the man in confusion. "You know I grew up with Rinny, and we may not have the same blood, but she's my sister in all the ways it counts, and I pulled a gun to her. I aimed it at her, and sure I knew I wasn't going to pull the trigger, she knew I wasn't going to pull the trigger, but just the action of holding that gun and pointing it at her." Matthew shook his head at the memory. "And then the next time I saw her, she told me that no matter what happens, she will always be my sister and nothing will change that." he shook his head and snaps his finger to emphasize. "Just like that I was forgiven." he looked back over to Tony and sighed. "I guess I came here to accept the fact that even though you left my sister to die, I think I forgive you." he seemed unsure when he said it, and Tony heard the uncertainty. He cleared his throat and gave a nod before looking over to the man with a smile. "I mean, you're an asshole, but you're family so we have to get over this shit." Tony smiled before walking over to the man. "Don't you dare hug me, I swear to-" Tony threw his arms around the man in a hug and Matt just let out a sigh. "And you're hugging me."

When the men walked back into the party, Tony spotted Pepper across the room chatting with her mother.

"You haven't gotten so enlightened that you actually like old lady Potts, have you?" Matthew asked, and Tony smiled turning to the man. The smile only worried Matt who frowned. "You don't, do you, because I think our friendship will probably end again, right now."

"No, I absolutely do not like her." Tony replied turning when he sees both Pepper and Vivian looking over to them and smiling. He returned the smile with a wave. "Now I have someone to share my disdain."

"Happy?"

"He likes her, and gets all judgy when I call her things like succubus and witch."

"Rhodey?"

"He just makes fun of me."

"You know I will more than likely make fun of you." Matthew said and Tony glanced over to him and gave a nod.

"I know, but you're not really good at it, so it doesn't even matter." Tony said, before walking off, leaving Matthew before he could retort. He shook his head, before glancing around the party looking for the spider kid, only he didn't see him.

Peter couldn't get over the embarrassment he felt making a scene at the party, and even though no one saw him, he saw the way Tony looked at him and he couldn't take it and when Tony and Matthew went out onto the balcony, he snuck out and decided to go home.

He'd stripped off his suit, and it was now in his backpack as he swung above the city. There was no amount of embarrassment that could take away how great this feeling was. How natural it felt to be up here, in the air, then it did to be in a room filled with people.

He stopped above a tall building, and smiled at how nothing ever compared to the sight of New York City at night when it was all lit up like this. He threw out his hand, shooting another web and continuing his sail across the sky. There was one more stop he wanted to make before going home.

Peter landed on a bridge that overlook the ocean, and always reflected the light of the moon in a way that always amazed him.

"Of course." a voice suddenly spoke, and Peter lifted his head, not realizing he wasn't alone. He looked back and noticed someone sitting on a bench, and his eyes widen when he realized he recognized the woman.

"You're-" he climbed off the bridge, and turned to the woman who hadn't moved from her seat. The last time he saw her was in that epic battle. He thought she was on the bad side, but after a talk with Tony, realized none of them had all the information. "I'm sorry." he's not sure why he said it, but when he thought about the fight, and how he actually tied her ankles with his web shooter knocking her off her feet, he felt the need to apologize.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I uh-" Peter shrugged kind of nervous at the moment. He didn't really know the woman, and what he thought he knew was that she was helping a bad guy. Now he knows that wasn't true, but it still doesn't change the fact that she's still a stranger. "What happened, I thought-"

"You thought what everyone thought." Katie said with a shrug as she turned to look back out to the water. "You were pretty good out there. I mean it was totally dangerous, and I'm pretty sure at some point I'm going to punch Tony for drafting you in that fight." she glanced over to the kid and sighed. "You're making the news. The friendly neighborhood Spider Man is doing some good in this city. I'm proud of you."

"Uh, thanks, I guess." he replied. Silence filled the air between them, and the awkwardness was getting too blatant, and so Peter nudged his head. "I should probably be getting home."

"Yeah, me too." she sighed standing to her feet. "Before my stalker shows up and annoys me to death." she looks over to the kid about to walk away, when she notices the sleek design of his suit, and chuckles before walking over and looking him over. "Tony made you another suit, and this one is-" she let her eyes scan over it. "It has it's own AI doesn't it?" she looks up to Peter with wide eyes of excitement.

"It does, her name is Karen." Peter replies with a shrug as he watches the woman whose still looking at him.

"What can it do?" she asked meeting Peter's eyes, and when he doesn't say anything right away, she suddenly realizes how creepy she seems right now. "Oh, I'm-" she takes a couple of steps back realizing she was totally in his personal bubble. "I'm sorry. I use to help Tony with his Iron Man suits in what feels like a lifetime ago. It was fun." she let out a sigh and just shook her head. "And now I'm the weird lady checking out your spidey suit." she nudged her head. "I'm going to go." she turned around and began walking away, and Peter took a step forward.

"There's 576 web shooting combinations." he said, and Katie stopped and turned back to him. "I think I've only used about two or three." he took a step toward her. "He made the eyes on the mask like super cool. I can see and hear things really far away."

"Enhancing ocular and hyperacusis fuctions." Katie mused with a nod, suddenly lifting her head and imagining the line of codes he could've used. A smile came to her face as she looked over to Peter. "Thanks for-" she wave a slight hand. "Humoring me, but you should get home." she turned about to walk away again.

"Uh, he's having a party tonight." Katie stopped once again and looked back to the boy. "I just left it actually. Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts are getting married, it's an engagement party. You should go, I mean now that he knows you're not a bad guy...bad gal," Peter shook his head, but continued. "I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." Katie smiled but shook her head.

"I think that would be nice, but I can't. I'm still kind of a fugitive you know." she shrugged.

"Oh, that—" Peter wasn't sure what to say.. "That sucks." Katie laughed but gave a nod.

"It does suck. But until I'm not wanted, I shouldn't see him. Actually he shouldn't even know I'm in this city. Would you mind not telling him you saw me."

"Uh, sure, I guess." Peter replied reluctantly. He'd learned lying to Tony could end badly, but he's also sure the woman's name probably won't even come up in any conversation with him.

"Thanks, Mr. Parker." she replied finally turning and walking away.

"You can call me Peter if you want!" he called, but she continued to walk, giving him one final wave goodbye.

When Katie walked into the sanctum, the lights were dimmed, and there was no one in sight. Katie's eyes looked to the stairs, debating if she should just turn in for the night. The thought of her nightmares made her shake her head and stalk off toward the training room. When she stepped inside, the room was already illuminated by candles. She glanced around, but didn't see anyone. She pulled off her jacket, and tossed the baseball cap to the floor before walking to the center of the room. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.

"You have built a computer with scraps." she muttered, slowly spinning around. " You stealthily, sneak into any government agency without being detected." she lifted her hands out in front of her, slightly curving her fingers. "You have infiltrated, and outsmarted dangerous terrorists organizations both on earth and on Asgard." she let out another deep breath before opening her eyes. "You can do this." she squinted her eyes trying to feel that energy she knows she's supposed to feel to create the door, but she just doesn't. She lets out a frustrated huff before dropping her hands." You can't do this." she shook her head about to leave, but stops when she sees Stephen standing at the door watching her.

"So that's it. You're just going to give up?" he asks and Katie rolls her eyes before reaching down and picking up her jacket and cap. "You can't just-" he shook his head. "She said you were someone you're obviously not."

"Well that happens a lot when I'm concerned. I'm not a good SHIELD agent, I'm not a good Creative Director, or even a good Avenger. And most recently I found out that I suck as a wife and mother. So I'm sorry I'm not this person you want me to be, I'm sorry, I'm not living up to your expectations, but frankly I don't give a damn." she let out out a deep breath and waited for him to respond, but he simply looked at her with a quirked brow.

"Ok." he said after a moment with a slight nod. "Wong was right."

"About what?"

"A new tactic." Stephen said, before beginning to stretch a bit. "Pick up the stick." Katie looked at him like he was crazy. He nudged his head toward her feet, and she looked down suddenly spotting a bo staff that wasn't there before. Katie looked at the stick in confusion before looking back to the man.

"I'm not fighting you. I already told you I can physically defend myself."

"I know, but there seems to be some sort of disconnect happening." Stephen suddenly pulled a bo staff of his own, and spun it in front of him. "I need to figure out where that is, and so we must start from the beginning." he quickly dragged the staff under her feet knocking her to the floor with a thud. "Pick up the damn stick!" he climbed over her, and Katie angrily grabbed the staff and jumped to her feet, and taking on a fighting stance.

"I don't know what the hell this is, but I promise you, you're the one whose gonna learn the lesson today." Katie swung the staff, but Stephen quickly blocked her, before pushing her back and swinging his staff. And the rhythm continued. She'd swing, he'd block and vice versa, until Stephen broke the pattern, sliding his staff under Katie's feet, knocking her on her back. The moment her back hit the floor, she knew she was supposed to get back up and continue fighting. It was ingrained in her to get right back up when she's knocked down, but this very moment she didn't move. She didn't want to move. The woman just laid there, her chest heaving as she stares up to the ceiling. Stephen stood above her holding his staff in his hand, his chest heaving as well, but he thought for sure she'd jump back up, but she didn't. He frowns down to the woman, not believing he would actually defeat her this easily.

"You're pathetic." he tosses his staff to floor. "And the worst part is I'm going to have to do the one thing I didn't want to do. I thought I could be a better teacher than she was, that I didn't have to revert to the extremes that she went to, but what she did accomplished what I am failing at right now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Katie asked, glancing over to him still trying to catch her breath.

"I'm talking about the fact that once upon a time I needed a kick in the butt to realize that everything I was grasping, logic, and reality wouldn't give me what I really needed." he looked down to the woman and shook his head. "I needed hope. You need hope and the only way you will get it is if you finally pull yourself out of the self pity, and the sadness you're melting into."

"Well I like my pity, so if you wouldn't mind, just go away, I'd like to be alone."

"You know I would, but there's one problem."

"And what's that?"

"I'm not finished with you." and without another word spoken, Stephen lifted his hands, and with a swift spin, a spinning circle of light opened up underneath Katie causing her to fall to something cold. She sat up quickly, looking down to the snow she'd just fallen in to, before her eyes lifted to see nothing but the familiar sight of snow covered mountains. The winds were strong, and Katie brought her arms around her in a pointless effort to keep herself warm. "Freezing, right?" Katie lifts her head to see Stephen still above her, safe and warm in the training room. "If I remember correctly, at that temperature a person can last 13 minutes before suffering permanent loss of function...but you'll likely go into shock within the first 2."

"You son of a bitch, don't you dare leave me here." she says jumping up to her feet, trying to jump back through the door.

"I'm sorry, but this is the kick in the butt you need."

"I can't do this! I can't-" she shook her head. "Have you even thought about the fact that the reason I can't do this is because you refuse to give me one of those fancy rings?" he looks down to her with a quirked brow before looking down to the sling ring on his fingers. He glances back to her with a shake of his head.

"This isn't the first time you've been on this mountain. How did you get here? How did you get to Hong Kong, and then back to your house. You don't need the rings. The power you possess is buried deep inside of you underneath guilt and sadness. You will die if you don't pull yourself out of it."

"You wouldn't let me die."

"I guess we'll see."

And in a flash the gateway was gone, and Katie was alone. She tightened her arms around herself, as the snowy winds blew past her.

Stephen stood there for a moment in doubt. He looked down to the floor before lifting his head and turning when he felt someone watching him.

"I know what you're going to say, Wong, but it needed to be done. Plus it worked for me, it will work for her. She will get over her crap, and finally focus." Wong didn't say anything as he folded his arms over his chest. "Don't look at me like that, I know what I'm doing." Stephen turned back, looking down to the floor. "She will figure it out." he glanced down to his watch, suddenly nervous as the first minute passes.


	9. Chapter 9

Doubts were always the enemy. Stephen was a doctor, knew every decision he made could be what extended or reduced someone's life. So when he made a decision, he couldn't doubt it, he couldn't question whether he was right or wrong, because it had to be right.

Right now Stephen stood, a knot twisting in his stomach that he was most certainly sure was doubt. Five minutes had passed, and the only eyes on him were of Wong's and soon the man's silence was unbearable.

"If you're going to just stand there and say nothing, then-"

"Why are you still here?" Wong asked the man and Stephen whipped his head around. "You and I both know she couldn't make it this long. Why haven't you went to bring her back?"

"Because!" Stephen turned away from the man trying to hide the fact that he'd been thinking the same thing. "She can do this. I know she can."

"If she hasn't frozen to death." Wong replied with a shake of his head. He turned, and lifted his hand. Stephen turned to him with a furrowed brow as he watched Wong opening a gateway back to Mount Everest. He rushed over, just as the man stepped through and Stephen quickly followed behind him. Both men stood on top of that mountain, their eyes scanning around, both confused why they were the only two there. Wong whipped his head around to Stephen who was still searching for any sign of the woman. Soon he walked over to the edge and peered down, that knotting in his stomach now twisting and making it hard for him to breathe.

"She-" Stephen shook his head, before looking over to Wong. "She's not-" Wong turned away from the man, and stepped back through the gateway. Stephen remained a bit longer before turning and stepping through as well. Wong didn't wait for him, didn't stay so they could discuss what they should do. He turned and watched the gateway closing, and he stood there not moving. "She's not dead." he narrowed his eyes before rushing out of there in search of Wong. There had to be something in one of the man's books that could help him.

Stephen was about to skip up the stairs when the sudden sound of the doorbell ringing stopped him. He turned a frown to the door. They didn't get many visitors except for the occasional lost traveler, or a girl scout trying to sell cookies. Stephen sighed, because he remembers Wong's obsession with getting descriptions of all the cookies the child had to offer. He just hopes she wasn't back.

Stephen pulled open the door, and stared in confusion at the teenage boy who stood with a nervous smile.

"You're not a boy scout are you, because I thought there was an age limit or something."

"Uh, no, I'm Peter and I thought-" Peter glanced behind Stephen who moved slightly to block the boys view. "I thought someone I knew was here." he frowned turning back to Stephen about to turn away, but he stopped himself. He cleared his throat, and leaned in a bit. "Is she here?" Stephen looked down to the boy like he was insane. "Katie, I could've sworn this is where I saw her go." Stephen still didn't say a word, and that only made Peter more nervous. Katie after all was kind of a wanted criminal, and given his luck he was probably unknowingly leading to her capture. He shook his head and took a step back. "I mean, never mind, forget about it." he turned and skipped down the stairs, and Stephen stood there for a moment before finally closing the door.

Tony Stark stood in his lab, staring at one of his Iron Man suits as he rubbed his chin in thought. He lifted his head and turned at the sound of the doors sliding open, and he lifted his eyes to the second level where Matthew walked over, peering down to him from the balcony.

"I thought you got lost." Tony said, and Matthew huffed with a shake of his head before heading over to the stairs.

"Well I did, but I met this cute cadet-"

"Say no more." Tony says turning back to the suit. Matthew walked over and stood beside him, looking at the suit as well. He frowned slightly when he noticed something.

"Why doesn't this suit look as shiny as your others?" he asked, and Tony shook his head. "Is this one of the first ones?"

"It's an early model. I've had it for a while. Basing the code and designs of my other suits from this one, but I've never actually used it." Tony took a step back, and both men watched as it lowered into the storage chamber underneath the lab. He turned and walked back over to one of his computers, and Matthew glanced over to him with a quirked brow.

"Why not? Is it not functioning?"

"Yes, it functions completely as it was designed to." the man kept his eyes on the holo-computer and Matthew knew he was attempting to end the conversation. "So how long are you in town for?"

"I uh, I report to the New York office. I have house just outside of the city." Matthew replied, and Tony stopped and looked over to him. "What?"

"You have a house outside of the city?" Tony chuckled with a shake of his head. "I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that you were this big deal CIA agent, that quit, moved into your parent’s basement and then became my assistant, and now you're a big deal CIA agent again."

"I'm not really a big deal." Matthew replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he walked over to stand beside the man. "I was supposed to be let go after losing Rinny, but they kept me around in hopes I would lead them to her. I had to be creative with losing them when I—" Matthew stopped, and Tony looked over to him in confusion, when he shook his head. He probably shouldn't mention his meetings with his sister. "Never mind. Uh, so when's the wedding?"

"Do you plan on coming?" Tony asked and Matthew shrugged.

"Honestly?" Matthew laughed before turning and looking around the massive lab. "It's still weird." he turned back to Tony and sighed. "Things aren't the same since that day at the airport."

"Tell me about it." Tony muttered with a shake of his head, but he turned to Matthew and placed hand on his shoulder. "But you're coming. We've gotten over our differences, and we're friends again, and as my friend I fully expect you to get ridiculously drunk at my wedding, and hit on all the bridesmaids." Matthew turned away in thought, the idea not completely horrible.

"I mean, when you say it like that-" he turned back to Tony with a nod. "I'm totally there."

"Good. Tony Stark is off the market, and someone is needed to keep my legacy alive and well, and until Pepper and I have little Pepperonis, that person is you."

"I feel honored and scared."

"As you should, my friend, as you should."

Matthew turned, once again going about snooping around the lab. He scratched the back of his neck, before glancing over to Tony, deciding now would be a good time to ask the question he'd been impatiently waiting to ask.

"Uh, so you wouldn't by chance have a way to get in contact with the Spider Ninja, would you?" Tony stopped typing and turned to Matthew with a furrowed brow. "I just need to have a conversation with her."

"About?"

"A boat." Matthew lied, and Tony saw through it, and turned to him fully. "I'm sorry Tony, but that's all you're getting out of me. You keep the mystery of your little Iron Man suit, and I'll keep the secret of my boat." Tony still continued to stare. "Do you know how to contact her?"

"I don't. She's in the wind." Matthew simply gave a nod before turning and nudging his head to the door.

"I think I will see if I can find that cadet again." Matthew turned about to leave, when Tony's words stopped him.

"Your sister worked on that suit." Tony said turning away as Matthew stopped and looked back over to him. "She really wasn't into the whole construction process. I mean she was good, I knew it and so did she. But she excelled in the code." Tony glanced back over to Matthew who stood just listening. "You see once upon a time I enticed your sister to work for me-"

"Blackmailed, she told me the story."

"Well she told it wrong. I enticed her to work for me, and I was showing her the suits, and she stopped on this one." Tony turned, typing a few keys, letting the suit back up from it storage unit, and walking over to it. "For an entire day she focused on nothing but this suit. I thought she was just fangirling over it's awesomeness." a smile curled at Tony's lips, and he glanced over to Matthew who appeared beside him. "I thought I had impressed her. In reality she was looking at this suit, and seeing what it could be, what it could do." Tony shook his head. "I remember watching her work on this. How she would turn her head, and get this far away look on her face, before suddenly smiling. That was her with a puzzle suddenly appearing in her brain, and her mapping out how to fit the pieces together." Tony turned back to the old suit and sighed. "This suit is functional. It does what it's designed to do with a few added amenities courtesy of my kitten. But she told me it's not finished." Tony pressed a button on his watch and the suit once again lowered. "She has to finish it." Tony turned back to Matthew who looked over to him and sighed. "So boat is code name for..."

"Clinton Barton." Matthew replied folding his arms over his chest. "I figure if anyone would know where he was, it would be his old partner in crime."

"And you want to find him because.."

"Oh, I'm going to kill him." Matthew said simply. Tony looked at him for a moment before giving a nod.

"Well that's going to be a problem." Tony replied before typing something on his watch, and both men turned to a holo-screen that appeared in front of them. It was an image of a giant map, a picture of Clint in the top left hand side of the screen as some sort of massive facial recon search seemed to be happening. "You see I'm looking for him too. And I'm pretty sure when I find him, I'm going to be the one to kill him."

Stephen stood surrounded by books, each and everyone pointless to solving his problem. He lifted his eyes over to the door wondering why he hadn't seen Wong since he stormed away from him. Stephen stepped over the books and headed out into the hall, his eyes glancing around for the man.

"You know giving me the silent treatment won't fix this!" Stephen called as he headed down the hall. "She's not dead. I know she's not dead." his voice was full of hope, but lacked certainty at the same time. "She can't be dead." the last words were muttered to himself as he once again let the fear of them wash off of him. "Wong, will you just-" Stephen stopped walking, his eyes glancing over to a painting on the wall. A painting he's sure he'd just past a couple of steps prior. Now he knew the sanctum had it's own tricks and secrets, and so he wasn't sure if he'd actually stumbled on one or not. There was a sudden silhouette at the end of the hall that Stephen's eyes caught and lost in what seemed like mere seconds. He wasn't even sure he'd actually saw it, but there was a slight twinge. He felt something. He lifted his hand, and suddenly his cloak was wrapped around him in seconds as he began walking.

There hadn't been an infiltration of the Sanctum since Kaecilius, but he knew there were always others who would try. It wasn't until he happened upon a room, did he hear the unexpected sound of ragged breathing. He stopped and cautiously pushed opened the door, his eyes going wide at the sight of Katie lying curled up on the floor violently shivering. He took a step forward about to grab the cloak, but the cape flew off on it's own, wrapping itself around the woman. Stephen lifted his head, and with a wave of his hand, a fire blazed in the fireplace. He dropped his eyes back to her, and took another step.

"Don't...come...near...me." her words barely spoken through her shivering.

"Katherine, I'm sorry. I truly believed-" he took another step, and in a blink of an eye she was gone. His eyes widened as he searched the room. "Son of a bitch!" he turned and ran in search of Wong who he hoped had a book that could help him right about now.

Pepper Potts was exhausted. She'd been in meetings all day, followed by wedding planning with her mother. She let out a sigh of relief the moment she stepped inside the penthouse. She kicked off her shoes, and tossed her keys into the bowl next to the door. She'd been daydreaming about a nice hot bath all day, and so she headed off toward the bathroom. She stopped when she heard a noise from somewhere. She glanced over her shoulder with a furrowed brow. She'd just spoken to Tony before arriving, and he and Matt were still in his lab. No one was supposed to be here.

"FRIDAY." Pepper whispered as she turned around and began walking. "Call Tony, tell him I think some one is in the house, and then call the police." she knew that should've gone the other way around, but she always figured Tony would have a plan for such a case as this one. Maybe some sort of device, or a bot that could swoop in and save the day.

"I'm sorry Ms. Potts, I can't do that." the accented voice of the AI replied, and Pepper glanced up in confusion. "You shouldn't be alarmed."

"Well I'm very alarmed right now FRIDAY because someone is in my home and has already hacked you." Pepper turned grabbing her phone deciding to call the police herself, but the moment she picked it up, it suddenly powered off. "FRIDAY, did you do that?"

"I did, and there is a reason."

FRIDAY instructed Pepper to go to the den, and at first Pepper refused assuming this was some kind of trap. But then she realized the damn AI controlled practically everything in the house so there was no way she was getting out of here. She needed to figure out what was going on, and so she headed down the hall.

Metaphorical alarm bells rang in Pepper's head as she began to feel heat. There shouldn't be heat blowing anywhere in here when the summer heat was blazing outside. She stopped outside the door that lead to the den, and she hesitated for a moment unsure if she should even proceed.

"Ms. Potts, you're truly not in any danger."

"Well it feels like I am, I'm being held against my will, I'm unable to call for help. I thought Tony made you impenetrable against hackers."

"He did."

"Then who the hell-" The answer popped into her head before she could even ask the question. Pepper's eyes widen, before she looked back to the door, now suddenly nervous that moment she'd been dreading was about to happen.

"Ms. Potts, you need to go inside." Pepper lifted her head, not missing the urgency in the AI's voice. She reached for the handle, and pushed opened the door. Of all the things she expected to see on the other side of that door was Katie lying on the floor her body shaking uncontrollably in front of the fire place.

For a moment Pepper stood frozen. The moment seemed surreal and so unexpected that a next move didn't suddenly come to her. The next moment was the moment she realized that this was really happening. She quickly grabbed a blanket from the closet and ran over, wrapping it around the woman, whose eyes seemed to be tightened shut. Pepper noticed the light shade of blue her skin was and she shook her head.

"FRIDAY call 911."

"I'm sorry Ms. Potts, I can't"

"Why the hell not?!" Pepper asked, dropping completely to the floor and pulling Katie into her arms, trying to create as much warmth as she could. "FRIDAY!" the AI didn't speak, and Pepper didn't know what to do except hold the woman in her arms and try to get her warm.

Tony and Matthew were huddled together, their eyes on something when Peter walked into the lab. He let out a sigh of relief, seriously not believing he actually found the lab after wandering aimlessly for a half an hour.

Neither man seemed to be aware of the teenager's presence, and so he walked closer.

"She has to know where he is." Matthew said to Tony. "They were partners for ever, if he wants to disappear then she's the one who would know. You should call her, and leave out the part where we plan on killing him."

"I told you, I don't have her—" Tony's eyes turned, finally spotting Peter who seemed to be staring with wide eyes. Matthew looked over to the man with a furrowed brow before turning as well.

"It's the spider kid." Matthew said with a smile. "How much of our conversation did you hear?"

"Uh, not-" Peter cleared his throat and shrugged. "Like nothing at all really."

"So all of it?" Tony asked and Peter turned and sighed.

"Just the parts about the two of you killing someone." Peter took a step forward looking between the two men. "And I can totally pretend that I didn't hear anything." Tony opened his mouth to respond, but Matthew placed a hand on his arm to stop him.

"So you're willing to be an accessory to murder, kid?" Matthew asked and Peter suddenly looked nervous. "Because that's what you'll be. And I know you've gotten close to this guy, probably think he's some big shot superhero or something." Tony turned a glare to the man. "You probably even think of him as some sort of mentor or something." Matthew turned to Tony, a smirk on his face. "So would you really want to sign up for throwing your whole life away for this guy?" he glanced back over to Peter, and saw the kid seeming to think it over. Tony shook his head, before turning back to Peter and sighed.

"I mean-"

"No." Tony said and Peter met his eyes. "He was joking, but the answer to his question better be no." Peter simply gave a nod with a slight chuckle.

"Right, I knew it was a joke." he said glancing over to Matthew. "It was a good one. Walking in on a murder plot." he chuckled again turning back to Tony. "That's just crazy." Matthew and Tony shared a look before turning back to the teen.

"What are you doing here, Pete?" Tony asked walking over to the boy. "I didn't give you that kick as suit so you could laze around. Isn't there a kitten in a tree waiting for you to save him."

"Mr. Stark-"

"I hold no hard feelings toward you turning down my offer to join the team. I respect your decision to remain the friendly neighborhood Spiderman." Tony gave a shrug, before looking back over to Matthew who turned his attention to his phone. "What's up?" Tony turned back to Peter who suddenly looked nervous.

"Well I uh-" Peter turned to Tony, and let out a nervous breath. He told himself that he'd keep Katie's secret and wouldn't tell a soul that he saw her, but he knows he saw her go into that house. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "You see-"

"I have an idea." Matthew suddenly said, and Tony turned to him with a quirked brow. "Mason."

"Rick Mason?" Tony asked and Matthew nodded with a bright smile. "You think Mason knows where Barton is?"

"No, I think Mason knows where the spider ninja is, and she's our ticket to operation black hawk down." Tony looked over to the man with a furrowed brow. "I just thought a code name would be cool."

"Can you contact Mason?"

"Yeah," Matthew lifted his phone about to dial, but stopped with a frown. "Wait that's a dumbass idea. Mason is still Fury's puppy, and getting him involved just gets more attention than Rinny needs right now." Matthew dropped the phone and looked over to Peter who seemed completely lost.

"Wait, who's Spider ninja?" Peter asked turning to Tony who simply gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Sorry kid, we're having adult time." he lifted his head, realizing how weird that sounded out loud. "I mean, we're having men time." he looked over to Matthew who just shook his head.

"The truth, we're looking for someone and at this point we don't know what we're going to do when we find him, and it would just be better for everyone if you weren't apart of it." Peter looked over to him, before turning to Tony.

"Hey Pete, we can catch up later, now's just not a good time." Peter just smiled, giving a nod before turning and heading up the few steps toward the door. He stopped before leaving, glancing back to once again see the men huddle in a secret conversation. Maybe he was once again overreacting, maybe she was fine. Peter let out another deep sigh, before turning and leaving, hoping that keeping tight lipped was the right decision

Pepper knew Tony would probably be coming home late. Now that he and Matthew were friends again, she's sure the pair would be finding trouble somewhere. About an hour after finding a practically frozen Katherine Barton, the woman now lay on the couch in front of the fire place, color finally returning to her skin. Pepper had changed into a tank top and shorts to bare the heat, but it was pointless, she was still sweating. She sat at the other end of the couch, her eyes glancing over to Katie, and she couldn't believe she was lying right here. She suddenly realized how years had gone by since they'd seen each other, or even had a conversation.

A groan escaped Katie's lips, and her eyes flit opened, and the moment they did, confusion washed over her face. Her eyes looked over to the fireplace, and then to the blankets wrapped around her, and then her eyes widened as she looked over to the woman sitting across from her.

"Pepper?" Katie looked around the room, not sure where she was or how she got here.

"How do you feel?" Pepper asked, and Katie turned back to the woman in confusion, before shaking her head.

"I shouldn't be here." Katie turned standing to her feet, only to realize one of the blankets was still wrapped around her. She lifted her head now noticing it wasn't a blanket. "What the hell are you doing here?" Pepper looked up to the woman in confusion as she saw her speaking to the weird cape thing she was wearing.

"Katie-"

Suddenly once again aware where she was, Katie began searching for a way out.

"What happened to you?" Pepper asked standing to her feet, and Katie looked over to her with a shake of her head. "You look like you were almost frozen to death."

"I was." Katie muttered. "Look thanks for your help Pepper, really, but I really have to get out of here." she turned about to head out the door, when the sudden sound of the front door opening and closing sounded.

"Pepper, you home?!"

Both women shared a look at the sound of Tony's voice. Katie shook her head to Pepper.

"He can't know I'm here." Katie whispered, and for some reason Pepper didn't expect the words. "Look I don't know why I'm here, but if I were in my right mind when it happened, I wouldn't. I don't want to mess this up for you guys." they heard nearing foot steps and Katie scurried away from the door, over to the window. They were a couple of feet from the ground, so jumping was just another word for suicide. She turned back around to Pepper who still seemed in shock by the woman's words. Suddenly the door opened, and Pepper turned to see Tony whose eyes went from the woman to the blazing fireplace.

"Why do you have a fire going when it's like a thousand degrees outside?" Tony asked looking back over to the woman. Pepper's eyes turned back to the window, surprised that Katie wasn't there. "Pep?" she silently turned back to the man, and Tony could see the lines in her forehead scrunching in confusion. He walked over to her, bringing his arms around her. "Pepper, are you ok?" she lifted her eyes to the man and suddenly pulled a smile.

"Yeah, I uh-" she looked over to the fireplace. "I was cold." she turned back to the man who was still looking at her in confusion. "And now I'm not. FRIDAY, could you-" the fireplace suddenly turned off, and the central air began breezing in. Pepper turned back to Tony, placing her hands on the sides of his face and placing a kiss to his lips. "I should change." she moved around the man out of the room.

Tony stood there for a moment still in a slight state of confusion. He glanced around the room, hoping to find some sort of evidence to explain his fiance's strangeness, but there was nothing. He shook his head before turning and leaving the rooming as well, closing the door behind him in hopes of stopping the heat from the room from spreading.

The moment the couple was out of the room, Katie let out a deep breath. The cloak had hidden her and she didn't even realize it until a few moments after Tony walked into the room and didn't instantly lose his shit at the sight of her. It took a lot for her to be that close to him, and not even say a word. She slid her hands through her hair, and let out another deep breath.

Her eyes lifted, and she focused completely on one thing, and soon she stood in the Sanctum's library in time to see Stephen yelling at Wong.

"If you say I told you so, one more time, I swear-" Stephen caught sight of the woman and immediately stopped and turned to her. "Katherine, you-"

"I'm not dead." she grit through her teeth and she stalked toward him. "You left me on Mount Everest. Told me pull myself out of guilt and sadness, and only then would I be able to be free." she punched him in the shoulder. "I stood there freezing my ass off, because you decided you wanted to teach me a lesson." she hit him again, and he let out a grunt, but didn't back away. "I could've died you stupid idiot!" she waited for him to say something, but he simply cleared his throat and folded his arms over his chest before looking over to Wong with a cocky smile. Wong simply rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. Katie let out a growl before once again punching his arm.

"Hey, will you stop doing that." he said turning back to her. "I completely understand why you're upset, and in my defense I really did expect you escape sooner than you did, but I knew you would." he smiled proudly and Katie just punched him again. "Hey, would you-" the woman shook her head before turning around and stalking for the door. "Katherine, I'm sorry." she kept walking and he let out a deep sigh, before taking a step forward. "Don't leave." she stopped but didn't turn to him. "I know you're angry and you have every right to be, and I know what I did was rash, even though the same thing was done to me-" Wong nudged his shoulder to remind the man to stay on point. "You're special! How? I'm not completely sure, but I know you are." she finally turned to the man. "I believe you do too. Look you feel something is coming, something bad, and bigger than anything you've ever come across." he walked over, and placed himself right in front of her. "If we can even dream of beating this thing, then we're going to need you to be bigger as well." she turned away from him. "I know this isn't the path you saw yourself going, but-"

"You're my compass." she said turning back to him. "I may not want to go down this path, I may want to run as far away from it as I can, and hide in a dark hole, but I can't. I have to see this through, and that means I have to put up with you for a little while longer." a smile came to the man's face, and Katie just reached forward and punched his shoulder before turning about to head to her room. She suddenly stopped, and glanced down to the cloak still securely on her shoulders. "Thanks, you can go back to your owner." the cloak flew from her shoulders, to Stephen's who looked up back to the woman who was already leaving. He stepped out to the hall, and watched the woman who suddenly once again blinked away, and a smile curled up on his lips. There was a tap on his shoulder, and when he turned his eyes widen at the sight of Katie standing there, with a smile on her face before once again punching him in the shoulder.

"Will you stop hitting me, and you're welcome." he spun on his heel, and walked out of the room, and Katie shook her head before stalking after him. "Training will commence first thing in the morning as usual."

"Don't even get a day off after almost dying?"

"No, but I'll let you choose what we train on." he replied and Katie watched with a shake of her head, before turning back to Wong.

"So we need to make sure tomorrow is the worst day of his life. Any ideas?" Wong turned away in thought, before a smile crept on his lips. "I like that look Wong."

Pepper Potts was confused. The events of the day were playing over and over again, and she couldn't quite explain just how unexpected it all seemed. She always imagined Katie's arrival being this big production where she swoops in and steals all of Tony's attention, leaving Pepper to resort to the jealous crazed fiance.

Pepper stood on the balcony, her eyes looking over the beautiful cityscape.

"You know I think this place has finally gotten back to a normal temperature." Tony says, his arms wrapping around the woman from behind.

"I told you, I was cold." Pepper once again explained...lied. She bit the corner of her lip, once again thinking on Katie's plea to not tell Tony that she was here, how she didn't want to mess up anything. Pepper didn't expect that. Actually it went against everything she thought of the woman. Tony placed a kiss to Pepper's shoulder and the woman leaned her head back to his shoulder. "Tony, can I ask you something?"

"Matthew and I didn't break any laws." he responded. "Not today. I mean there was some definite plotting going on, but it's just in the planning stages now."

"The crime you two plan on committing?" Pepper asked tilting her head to meet his eyes. She simply shook her head before turning back to the bright city lights. "Actually don't answer that. I don't think I could be an accessory to whatever you two are up to." she let out a sigh, her hands sliding across his. "No, I was curious. The last time you saw Katie, she gave you a flash drive that would could keep even her from accessing your systems." Tony didn't say anything, unsure where this was going. "Did you install it?" she turned in the man's arms, now meeting the confusion in his eyes

"Where-" he shook his head. "What is this about?" Pepper looked at him for a moment, realizing that this was the moment she could just tell him the truth, about everything that happened while he was gone. She dropped her eyes, because even after everything, all of his promises and declarations of love, a part of her is still afraid to open that can of worms that is Katherine Barton. The moment she tells him that she was here, she has no doubt he'll probably try to search the city for her, or try to contact her. She lifts her eyes back to the man and places a hand on his cheek. "Pepper, what's going on?"

"Tony nothing's going on, I told you I was curious. It just popped into my head earlier today, and I thought I would just ask you." her hand slid to his chest, dropping her eyes once again. "I'm going to go to bed." she placed a kiss to his lips and moved around him back to the bedroom.

"I didn't." he said suddenly and she stopped. He turned seeing the woman who kept her back to him. "She titled it Rice Pudding of all things. She knows I hate Rice Pudding." Pepper let out a deep breath before turning back to the man. "I was upset with her, and I hated her, but-" he shook his head. "It just didn't seem right."

"Because removing her ability to hack you meant she was truly gone, and you didn't want that."

"No, I didn't." Tony decided if he really was going to spend the rest of his life with this woman, then he was going to be completely honest with her. "A very small part of me hoped that one day I would get my friend back." Pepper didn't say anything, not because she was speechless. There were quite a few things she could say in this moment, and soon she settled on one.

"Well if there is anything I have learned from all the years of being with you Tony, it's that there is nothing that can keep the two of you apart." she walked over bringing her arms around him with a smile. She was going to be supportive. She was not going to be jealous, because this man in front of her loved her, and would only love her. And she knew she had to believe that, knew she had to trust it because it was the only way their marriage would last. Pepper dropped her head and took a deep breath before she realized what else she needed to do. She lifted her eyes back to Tony.

"Tony, there's something I have to tell you." Pepper Potts was going to tell the truth. The ugly, scary truth that she couldn't keep from the man she's going to spend the rest of her life with. She had to believe their love could stand anything. "I lied about earlier. I wasn't cold."


	10. Chapter 10

Katie was haunted by the past that brought both joy and pain to her heart. She had to be a sadist or something. It's the only reason she could explain when she sat curled on the couch of the den in the sanctum, her eyes on the television currently playing the DVD of her wedding.

She could see it. Right there on the screen. That look in her eyes as she looked at the man that she was giving herself to completely. She loved no man as she loved him.

" _You are my best friend and one true love. And there is still a part of me today that cannot believe that I'm the one who gets to marry you. So I want you to know right now, today and everyday after I will show just how grateful I am. I will love you and protect you and I will make it my mission-" he placed his hand on her cheek, and she stared into his eyes. "To make sure you never feel alone again because if I am around, you never will be."_

A warm tear escaped Katie's eye, and slid down her cheek, and she lifted the remote and paused the video before they kissed. She quickly wiped the tear away when she felt eyes on her. She turned and saw Stephen standing there behind her, his eyes on the television. She rolled her eyes and turned off the television before standing to her feet about to head back to her room.

"How long will you do this?" he asked suddenly and she stopped, but she didn't turn to him. "You can't move forward, if you're torturing yourself with things that only bring you pain." she turned back to him. "Your focus is needed on what's important, and-"

"My husband, and my daughter are important." Katie says cutting the man off and taking a step toward him. "And I understand that may be lost upon you since you've taken on a life of miserable solitude here in this sanctum where you've been deemed it's protector. My husband, he-" Katie turned back to the blank television screen. "He stood there and he promised me that as long as he's alive, I will never feel alone, and then he just-"

"He left." Stephen said bluntly, and Katie turned her eyes to him. "But the truth will always remain that you are not alone."

"I know physically I'm not alone. I have you to annoy me, to try to distract me, and I have Wong whose been secretly trying to teach me life lessons, but that man-" Katie glanced back over to the television. "That man is the love of my life and he has my baby, who I haven't-" Katie felt tears in her eyes and she swallowed the lump in her throat. She turned back to Stephen and shrugged with a look he could only describe as defeat. And he didn't understand it, because he hasn't even seen her fighting...but maybe that was the point. "I haven't held my baby in about two months, and she's really young, so there's a chance she doesn't even remember me " The moment the words came out of her mouth, the tears poured from her eyes. "I had everything, and I just let it slip out of my fingers and I don't even know why." she looked over to Stephen who continued to stare at her in silence. She shook her head and turned away, drying her eyes with her hands. "I'm going to go for a walk." she stalked out of the room, leaving the man still in silence.

Stephen turned, and spotted Wong who stood at the rooms other entrance with a look of slight disappointment.

"Look I'm sorry, but I don't know what to say to her. This is all—" he turned away and shook his head. "Christine would know what to say." he muttered.

Tony was very much aware of Pepper's eyes on him lately. Ever so often whenever they were in a room together and when he wasn't looking, she would look over to him. Study him. For any sign that the story of his magically appearing friend in their penthouse was having some sort of affect on him. And even though he wasn't looking back to her, he always felt her eyes on him.

At the moment he was buttoning his shirt and she was sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes on him. He couldn't take it anymore, and so he finally turned to her.

"Ok, this has to stop."

"What are you talking about?" she turned her eyes back to the tablet in her hands. The one she was supposed to be looking at instead of watching him.

"Look, if you're looking at me because you think I'm insanely hot and you just can't figure out how you got me-" she glanced over to him with a quirked brow. "And from the look on your face I'm gonna assume that's not the case. Just say it." the woman looked at him for a moment, before letting out a sigh and turning away. "Pep-"

"It should've happened by now."

"What should've happened?" Tony asked honestly confused, and Pepper turned to him with a shake of her head.

"Tony, I told you that Katie appeared in our home near death from hypothermia. When she finally woke up, she told me not to tell you that she was here, and then she just disappeared."

"I'm still not understanding your point." Pepper tilted her head slightly as she looked at the man trying to see some sort of sign if he was really being honest. "She told you not to tell me, so I'm going to assume she doesn't want to see me."

"And you're alright with that?" Pepper asked standing to her feet. "Tony, I hate to admit this, but from the state she was in when she came here, something is definitely wrong, and I assumed you'd be hell bent on figuring it out."

"And I will, once she actually asks for my help." Tony replied and Pepper seemed surprised. She assumed she knew how the man in front of her would react, but this definitely wasn't it. She watched as he grabbed his jacket, slipping it on before walking over to her. "This doesn't change anything, alright?" the woman silently nodded, before his lips met hers in a quick kiss. "Have fun at work." the man turned slipping on a pair of sun glasses before heading out, leaving his fiance more confused than she's ever been.

It was starting to get to her. The realization of Katie's life was starting to sink in, and she could feel herself slowly breaking. The more she sat in her room, and thought about time after time she'd made a horrible decision. They were the nails she was hammering into her metaphorical coffin, and now she has to live with it.

When the memories of her screw ups were just too much, she decided she needed to just get away, and clear her head. She got dressed, always remembering the stupid baseball cap, and sunglasses, before skipping down the stairs in hopes of avoiding any annoying questions. All hopes were lost the moment she opened the door, and there stood Stephen who was about to walk inside.

"You're going somewhere?" he asked, before holding up a brown paper bag. "I got bagels."

"Uh, cool. I'm just going to go for a walk. I need to get out of here for a while."

"Did you want me to-"

"No." she said already rushing out the door. Stephen stood there for a moment, watching as she rushed down the sidewalk, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jacket and dropping her head. He'd noticed it before, how well she seemed to make herself unnoticeable. He's sure it's a trait she's not pleased to need.

Katie hailed a cab around the corner, and decided to head over to visit Odin. It had been a while since she'd seen him, and she figured now would probably be the best time to really dig into figuring out what happened to him and how she could help him.

Katie's eyes went wide the moment the taxi stopped in front of the nursing home. She handed the driver some cash before stepping out, unsure why there was a pile of rubble where the building used to be. She glanced around hoping for a sign about what was going on. There was a sign posted a couple of feet away, and she started toward it. She was halfway there, when familiar voices struck her.

"I swear I left him right here."

Katie turned her eyes not believing anything she was seeing. There was Thor and he was standing next to Loki who she believed up to this point was dead.

"Right here on the sidewalk, or right there where the building is being demolished?" Thor shook his head. "Great planning."

"How was I supposed to know?" Loki turned to his brother in annoyance before turning back to the rubble. "Can't see into the future. I'm not a witch." the truth was Loki really didn't care where their father was. His life as the king of Asgard was going perfect, but his brother just had to show up and ruin everything like always. Loki turned away his eyes searching for some sort of sign that would point them in the direction of their father and shut up his brother, but what he saw made him grow still.

"No? Then why do you dress like one?" Thor muttered still not believing his brother's actions. "I can't believe you're alive. I saw you die. I mourned you, I cried for you." he looked over to his brother who wasn't even paying attention to him. "Loki, are you even—" he followed his brother's gaze to see what has him so enamored, and the moment he sees Katie, his eyes seem to light up. "Lady Katherine!" he rushes over to her, and scoops her into a tight hug lifting her off the the ground. "I can't believe you're here, I feel like it's been ages since we've—" he placed her on the ground and pulled back and get a look at her, the wide smile still on his face until he sees the frown on hers. "What's wrong?"

"I can't be here." she began inching away from the man, glancing once again to Loki as she shook her head. "You're not supposed to see me." she looked back to Thor who stared at her in confusion. She noticed the stares they were getting, and she knew she was too close to blowing her cover. She shook her head before turning back to Thor and letting out a sigh. "I have to go, but find your dad and make sure he's ok."

"Katherine, what—" before he could even finish the question, Katie had turned and ran as fast as she could away from him. He was about to follow when he turned back to his brother, and figures he has something to do with his run away friend. "Loki-" suddenly sparks of orange light appear at Loki's feet, and both look down in confusion. "What is this, what are you doing?"

"This isn't me." it were the last words the man spoke before suddenly falling out of sight with an echoed yelp. Thor's eyes look to the spot his brother mysteriously disappeared, only to see a business card. He pokes it with his 'unbrella', which is really his Mjolnir in disguise. "Loki?" he bends down and picks up the card, and reads an address he assumes is where he'll find his brother.

Tony was supposed to be meeting with Happy to go over the details of the items that actually made the move after his plane both crashed and exploded. In all honesty he was supposed to be doing anything except for what he was doing right now.

He heard the sliding door open, and glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes before turning back to the holographic screen in front of him.

"Hey Matt, what are you doing here?" Tony asked, hearing the man's nearing footsteps.

"I tried calling you, and you didn't answer, so I called the future Mrs. Stark, and said you were meeting with Happy. I called Happy, who still hates me by the way, but he told me that he hadn't seen you either." Matthew walked up to stand beside the man, looking over to see what Tony was staring at so intently, and his mouth dropped open slightly. Tony glanced over to him, wanting to gauge his reaction. "I thought you were looking for agent assface?" Matthew asked looking to the man. "Why are you looking for my sister?" Tony quirked a brow.

"I thought you'd be a little more excited about the prospect of finding your sister. I mean it's been months, right?" Tony watched as Matthew turned away, looking back to the screen.

"Yeah," Matthew cleared his throat and Tony narrowed his eyes. "Right, months."

"You're lying." Matthew turned at the accusation, before shaking his head and heading back to the steps. "Is she in New York?!" Matthew stopped, but didn't turn. "She is, isn't she?" Tony shook his head, completely livid. She was so close and yet she nor his friend here thought he should know. "I can't believe-" he let out a huff turning back to the screen. He was glad Pepper couldn't see him now, see the reaction she expected and not the act he was putting on. It was the fact that at the time he didn't know it was an act. He thought when he heard his fiance's tale about his friend appearing in their place, as if she'd been nearly frozen to death, that it truly didn't faze him.

It was simply that over time he'd gotten in his head about it. After all this time, with Clint and Natalia not with her, there truly was no telling what kind of situation she could be in. That's what worried him. She was on her own, alone, with no one watching her back and he didn't like that at all.

"I thought she'd forgiven me, but she doesn't even want to see me."

"If you believe that then you don't know my sister at all." Matthew said, and Tony turned to see the seriousness in the man's eyes. "I've seen my sister a few times since she's been in this city, and each time she looks scared." the man shook his head. "You see my sister lost everything, and the only solace she has is knowing that without her in everyone's life, they're safe." Tony furrowed his brow in confusion. "Tony you haven't seen her, and she doesn't call you because in her head she thinks she protecting you."

"Protecting me from what?"

"Her, and this thing she believes destroys everything she's around. The CIA is still after her, whatever HYDRA lackeys that are out there are probably still after her, that bastard of a husband left taking her daughter, and told her he was protecting her from my sister, the woman with the biggest heart I'd ever known." Matt slid his hand through his hair in frustration. They stood in silence for a few beats, before Tony finally spoke.

"Well is she alright?" Matt didn't have a definite answer to that question and so he gave a slight shrug.

"She's trying to stay under the radar, I mean the few times we'd meet up, she looked fine, but I could tell she wasn't in the best place. That whole Barton thing really messed her up and I don't like her not always being on top of her game. Not when it's concerning her life." Matthew glanced over to to Tony who let out a deep breath of air, and he could tell this wasn't exactly the news he wanted to hear. "She's not alone. She has a friend who she says is helping her."

"Friend? What friend?"

"No idea, she didn't tell me much. She just told me in more or less words, he was someone who could be in the tornado that was her life, and not get knocked down." Matthew glanced up to the screen, and sighed at the picture of his sister. "You should end that search." he looked back over to Tony. "Look I know you want to see her, but I think for the moment she's fine, she-"

"She’s not fine." Tony stated plainly and Matthew saw how sure he was of those words as he took a step forward. "Something happened last night."

"What?"

"Your sister came to my house."

Katie ran, got in to not two, but three different cabs that she had drive aimlessly in case she was being followed. Seeing Thor, and Loki no less just really threw her for loop. She wasn't expecting to see them, and she definitely didn't expect them to see her. She had decided a long time ago that until she got a handle on her life, that she would place as much distance as possible between her and her friends...and whatever government agency was looking for her. After about an hour she finally had the taxi driver drop her off a block away from the sanctum. She didn't feel like she was being followed, but it didn't stop her from glancing over her shoulder and looking over the faces that passed her.

The only moment she felt like she could breathe was the moment she stepped inside the Sanctum, closing the door and dropping her head against it.

"Lady Katherine?" the sound of Thor's voice once again caused Katie to whip her head around, not quite believing that he was standing right there next to Stephen who was now dressed in his whole wizard gear, cloak and all. She looked over to Stephen who stood, staring back to the woman with a furrowed brow waiting for her to just speak.

Katie opened her mouth, unsure what she was going to say. Instead she closed her mouth and turned grabbing the door handle before pulling open the door and running out. She didn't hear the words Stephen muttered, but she knows he did something because the moment she stepped out the door, she appeared on the stairs now looking down to the two men. Thor looked over to the door in confusion, before looking back to Katie. Katie turned a glare to Stephen who turned back to Thor.

"Mr. Odinson was here requesting my help in finding his father." Stephen says taking a step forward, his eyes still on Katie. "I mentioned to him my knowledge of his father's presence here, and the visits you were making to him, giving him hope that you would help him." Katie still didn't say anything as she turned back to Thor.

"Lady Katherine, I'm not quite sure what is going on, or why you fled from me earlier," he glanced over to Stephen warily before turning back to Katie. "Are you here of you own volition?" he took a step forward. "Are you safe?" Katie let out a heavy sigh, before coming down the few steps, and suddenly bringing her arms around Thor in a hug that he returned.

"I'm sorry I ran and yes I am safe. I'm just in a bit of a situation." she pulled back from the hug and he looked to her eyes in confusion. "Don't worry I'm handling it. Or trying to handle it." she shook her head. "But that's not why you're here. Your dad. He was at that nursing home-"

"How did you know he was there?" Thor asked. "My brother, who is very much alive as you've seen, did something to him and hid him away in that place. How did you find him?"

"Honestly I don't know. I was out trying to clear my head, so I was just roaming around all over the city, and I walked by that nursing home, and just stopped. I don't know why, but I stopped and went inside, and to say I was surprised to see Odin is an understatement. I convinced the staff that he was my grandfather, and when I went over to him to ask him what he was doing here, he didn't say anything. It's like he was there, but not at the same time." Katie shook her head looking up to Thor's eyes. "I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I knew he needed help. I didn't know how I could help, but I believed I could figure it out. So I would visit him, talk to him, tell him he was going to be alright. I can't believe he's gone. I'm so sorry, I should've—"

"Katherine, it's not your fault and I am eternally grateful for your watchful eye on my father."

"Well not watchful enough because he's gone." Katie says before turning to Stephen who stood off to the side watching the pair. "You knew he was gone, didn't you?"

"It is my duty to be aware or any and all other worldly beings who come to Earth." Stephen replied once again and Katie rolled her eyes.

"You know where he is?"

"He's in Norway." Stephen replied and Katie's brows shot up on her forehead. She knew she missed a couple of visits, but she didn't expect him to be in another country. Stephen turned to Thor, "And I will be happy to send you to him, so you can take him along with your brother back home and far away from Earth."

"That's not nice." Katie said.

"I wasn't trying to be." Stephen said before suddenly reaching over to Thor. "I just need...a strand.. of hair." Thor inched back away from the man's grasp.

"Let me explain something. My hair is not to be meddled with." Thor's words didn't matter because when Stephen was close enough he grabbed one strand of hair. Thor watches as the man fluidly moves his hands, and suddenly sparks appears. Both watch as a spinning circle of sparks appear and on the other side is a beautiful meadow.

"He's waiting for you." Thor simply nodded before glancing over to Katie who gave a small smile. "Don't forget your umbrella."

"Oh, right." Thor says, before extending his hand. And they all listen as things begin to crash. The wait seems long, and the sound of all the crashing just makes Stephen grimace. "Sorry." suddenly the umbrella flies to Thor's hand and Katie looks at it in confusion, reaching over to poke the thing.

"How did you—" she shakes her head figuring her brain at this point couldn't take any more craziness. "You know what, never mind."

Thor looked over to Stephen, and gave a nod. "I guess I will be needing my brother back."

"Oh, of course." Stephen lifted his hands, and with a rapid spin of his hands, a portal opened and out fell a screaming Loki who crashed to the floor.

"I've been falling for thirty minutes!" he yelled jumping to his feet. He stalked toward Stephen, before stopping and looking over to Katie, his anger suddenly subsiding, as she looks to him. "Mad woman." Katie looked at him for a moment because for the life of her, she couldn't shake the feeling that something felt off. Up to this point she absolutely knew Loki was dead, but why did it feel like this wasn't the first time she'd seen him since seeing him die. She closed her eyes and winced as a memory she didn't even know she had hit her.

" _You and I both know death doesn't necessarily mean the end."_

Katie's eyes snapped opened and she looked right at the man and he just knew she remembered. He couldn't read her expression for a moment as she walked toward him. A part of him wanted to flee, because he'd know if she ever found out the truth her reaction wouldn't be pleasant. Or at least that's what he assumed. No one in that room quite suspected the moment she brought her arms around the man in a hug that he was too stunned to return. He glanced over to his brother who stared with wide confused eyes, before looking up to him brother with a glare.

"What did you do, Loki?" there was his brother's accusing voice once again.

"I didn't do anything!" Loki exclaimed looking back down to the woman who finally pulled from the hug. "I told you she was mad and she—"

"You saved my life." she stated and he shakes his head in refutation.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I would never save your life, you are one of the many banes of my existence, and extending your life doesn't benefit me."

"And yet you did. You saved me and my daughter." She looked over to Thor who still watched in confusion. "He is the one who got me out of that car before that truck hit." she looked back over to Loki. "I just don't know why." he looked at her for a moment before clearing his throat and standing a bit straighter.

"You truly are mad, I tell you." he muttered before turning to Stephen, suddenly becoming enraged again. "You think you're some kind of sorcerer?"a blade suddenly appeared in Loki's hand as he stalked toward Stephen. "Don't think for one minute, you second-rate..." with a wave of his hand, he moved the portal, forcing Loki to go through it before turning to Thor. Stephen turned back to Thor and held out a hand.

"Good luck."

"Thank you." Thor said, shaking man's hand before turning back to Katie. "For some reason I don't feel right leaving you here." he glanced around the place. "Alone." he turned back to her, not sure if he should ask about Clint. "Maybe you should come with us to Asgard, at least until you handle whatever situation you're in."

"That is a very tempting offer." Katie says glancing over to Stephen. "But something is happening here." she looked back to Thor. "We're not sure what it is, but something is coming." she walked over to him, and placed a reassuring hand to his arm. "But if you find yourself needing to avenge something, I will definitely be there." he gave her a smile before once again bringing her into a hug. "Oh, and I'm sorry about you an Jane." Katie had read some article quoting Jane that she and Thor had broken up.

"It was a mutual dumping." Thor said for the second time today, pulling from the hug. "And your Hawk, he's—"

"He and our daughter are safe, and that's all that matters." Katie replied before taking a step back. "You should go, and tell your dad I might hold it against him for not saying goodbye." Thor gave a nod before turning to the portal. The moment he stepped through, it was closed and he was gone.

Katie and Stephen stood in silence for a few moments before the man finally spoke.

"Uh, are you alright?" the question seemed so awkward coming from him. He truly wanted to help her, but he really was no good with the emotional stuff he knew she was holding onto. Katie stood there for a moment, really thinking about the answer to his question. She glanced up to him and just shook her head.

"No, I'm not." Katie slid her fingers through hair and looked up to meet the man's eyes. "I want my life back." she took a few steps toward the man. "I need a computer, and for Wong to meet me up to in his library."

With a laptop, Katie could find herself hidden beneath some of the best kept secrets of the world, and not be noticed at all. When Stephen placed the laptop in front her, he watched as she seemed to perform her own sort of magic as her fingers danced against the keys. He looked over her shoulder, the screen changing quickly, making it hard for him to even follow what she was doing.

"What are you trying to accomplish?"

"I need to know if our all knowing government is hiding any big secrets that could bite us in the ass." she replied her eyes not ever sparing him a glance. "Maybe whatever this is, whatever is coming was already spotted, and they don't even know it."

"I think I would." Stephen replied, but the woman didn't stop typing. "I know you rely heavily on this, this computer and information trapped inside, but no matter how extensive the information is, it's still limited." she didn't say anything. "If you want to find out the truth, then you're going to have to rely on something that is beyond reason, beyond numbers, beyond whatever you think you're going to accomplish with this computer." she still didn't say anything and he sighed before slamming down the lid of the laptop, taking it and throwing it into the wall. It shattered, and for some reason, Katie felt as if her hope did as well. She angrily jumped to her feet, and planted her feet in front of the man and the look in her eyes was undeniable. She wanted to attack.

"What you're asking is impossible. Years of logical thinking is ingrained in my brain, so excuse me for relying on it in a time a crisis." she shook her head before storming away from him.

"You can apparate of your own will." he said and she stopped. "Explain how that is possible logically." he turned waving a hand toward the laptop and watched as it seemed to piece itself back together before sitting on the table. He flipped open the lid and turned it to her. "Show me on here an explanation on how you're aware of a phenomenon that hasn't even happened yet." she remained silent and he shook his head. "Logically, you're not supposed to be here. Logically, you shouldn't have accepted my request to come here and yet here you are. The world is beyond logic, and the moment you realize that, the moment you immerse your self in that possibility will be the moment you are no longer blind to what is actually coming."

"What do you mean blind?"

"You feel it. Feel the dread that comes from whatever you believe is coming. But you know there's more and it's as if you can't even see it. The truth is you can, but you're too afraid of what seeing it will make you. You thought you knew the person you were, but this will make you something else, and that scares you." she didn't have a rebuttal, or quick comeback to oppose the accusation, because she knew it was more than an accusation. And so because the truth is hard to face head on, she turned and does what she has mastered, and that is run away.

She locked herself in her bedroom, and sat on the floor her back against the door. She couldn't stop hearing Stephen's words, couldn't stop thinking about the implications they had. Katie couldn't stop thinking about how scared to death at their truth.

The silence in the room was broken by a buzzing sound. Katie lifted her head, and glanced around the room trying to pin point where the sound was coming from. Her head turned to the drawer beside her bed and she crawled over, pulling it open to see the small flip phone ringing. Her heart stopped beating at thought of what this call could mean. Maybe she was too late. Maybe the twisting of her gut at the bad feeling was for nothing. She picked up the phone, took a deep breath before flipping it open and bringing it to her ear.

"What's wrong?"

" _Oh, nothing, just the fact that you're in New York, and decided not to tell me."_

When the words came out of Tony's mouth, Katie felt a mixture of emotions. She assumed the phone that was only supposed ring when the Avengers needed to assemble to fight something seriously dangerous, wouldn't be the source of her friend's nightly rant.

"So there aren't aliens attacking Earth, or some evil robots trying to outdo Ultron?"

_"I'm not joking!"_

"Neither am I. Look I know the last time I called you on this phone, I was in a bad place, and I totally misused the purpose of this phone, but I thought we agreed, that this is only for emergencies."

" _Well how about you showing up in my house nearly frozen? Does that count as an emergency?"_

Katie closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. She assumed the last thing Pepper would do was tell Tony about that night.

"She told you?"

" _Yes, she told me, but she shouldn't have been the one to tell you were here. What the hell is going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?"_

"I think I'm going to hang up now."

" _Don't you—_ " Tony exhaled before speaking again. " _You're here. You're close, and for some reason I don't get to see you. I thought we were different. We're—"_

"I know. I know who we are to each other Tony, and that's exactly why you haven't seen me. Because if I can somehow prevent the shit on my heels from even blowing in your direction, then that is what I'm going to do. Know that I am fine, that I am relatively safe, and that I am figuring out a way to fix my crappy life."

_"Let me help you."_

Katie dropped her head, her eyes closing and tears attempting to escape at his words.

"You're always trying to help me." she muttered, before slightly chuckling. "Well unless I upset you, then you let me get dragged to Timbuktu."

_"I'm not joking. This isn't our witty banter right now. This is me asking you to let me help you."_

Yet another tempting offer, and she wondered if she was crazy not to consider it. It would be so easy, but her mind only went to the downside of what accepting it could mean for Tony, for his life, and she wouldn't do that. Not to him. Never to him.

"No." she said simply, and she couldn't help that more tears seemed to pour from her eyes at her own words. "You see I'm not going you let you tangle yourself in my mess ever again. It bit you in the ass before. You almost lost the woman you love, so no, I got this."

" _Why the hell are you so stubborn?"_

"It's expected of me." she replied with a smile. "I'm really going to hang up now."

 _"I want to ask you again._ " Tony said. " _Face to face._ "

"That's absolutely not happening, it's too risky and—"

" _And I don't care. You don't get to be in the same city as me, and I don't even get to see you face to face."_

"Tony, no we can't, I-"

" _Brooklyn Bridge Park, one hour."_

Tony hung up the phone not even giving her another chance to argue. It was if he knew it didn't matter and that she would go against everything she'd just said and meet him. She snapped the phone shut and buried her face in her hands.

After a moment, her eyes looked over to the open window, unable to not think about him waiting to see her, and about how she so badly wanted to see him. To see the person who could always give her hope, and always made her feel like she wasn't really alone.

Tony was early. Even after the ridiculous modes of travel he used to get here. He'd taken two cabs, two subways, and even endured a city bus that dropped him off a block from the park. Looking at him too closely, and sure you'd probably recognize him, but he did a hell of a lot to make sure you didn't. He'd switched up his wardrobe for jeans that were slightly baggy but not too much. A baseball cap that practically covered his eyes, and a black hoodie, the hood draped over his head. He'd moved about the entire way without anyone looking his way.

Tony glanced down to his watch. It was officially an hour, and his eyes scanned the area searching out her face. A part of him was afraid she wouldn't show. It's why he hung up the phone after giving her a meeting location. He didn't want to give her another chance to say no. He wanted to let guilt drive her decisions. He wanted her to feel too guilty about making him wait out here this late at night alone.

"C'mon, kitten." he muttered, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie.

"You know people only meet at this park this late at night for either drugs or prostitution." the familiar voice made a smile break out on the man's face, and when he turned to her he could hardly believe that she was really here and standing in front of him. She'd opted for a darker wardrobe as well with a dark colored jacket a knit cap on her head as she looked off over the bridge. She glanced over to him and smiled. "Five minutes, Mr. Stark, and then we both turn around and not look—" her words were cut off by the man's arms suddenly pulling her into a tight hug, that she returned without hesitation. She didn't want to pull away, didn't want to remove herself from this feeling, this warmth she hadn't felt since Clint walked away from her. She didn't know she was crying really until she sniffed back tears.

It was the sound that made Tony pull back enough to see the tears in her eyes, and couldn't take the sight and so he just pulled his arms back around her.

"I'm going to help you."

"Three minutes, Tony."

"I'll get Ross off your back, I mean I'm sure I can dig up enough dirt on him to make him stay as far away from you as possible."

"Tony,"

"You'll stay with me, and I'll keep you safe from whatever HYDRA asshole is still out there trying to get to your mother through you."

"And if I don't?"

"Well I'll take your picture and entice you into sticking around." Tony replied placing a kiss to her cheek, never removing his arms from around her. "Because you're my kitten, you're my best friend, you're the peanut butter to my jelly, the Milly to my Vanilly, the-"

"One minute, Tony."

"You can't walk away from me. It's like ingrained in our DNA to always stick together. Even when we're fighting, and I'm angry with you, you're still-"

"Tony."

"No!" she felt his arms tighten around her, and she knew this moment would break her heart. It's the moment she would have to do what neither wanted them to do in this moment. "I don't care what happens to me, I don't care about the risks. I just need to know you're alright. I need you with me." she didn't say anything, and for a moment he thought she was considering it, that he'd changed her mind.

"Alright." she said, and he couldn't truly believe it. He pulled back, the grasp around her loosening. She placed a hand on his cheek and smiled. "I love you, Tony Stark." and without another word, she pullerd out of his loosen grasp, turned and ran away.

Because it was truly the only thing she was good at.


	11. Chapter 11

Tony Stark's brain wouldn't stop. Actually it was as if it just couldn't stop. At the moment he's standing on the balcony of his penthouse, drink in hand as he stares up to the stars. Or where stars should be if not for the bright lights of this city. It had been about week since that night on the bridge, his friend who he hadn't seen in months was standing right in front of him and then she just wasn't. She was scared. That much he could tell from the entire encounter. Of what was the real question.

"Tony?" it was the tired voice of his fiancée that tore the man from his thoughts. He turned as Pepper walked over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just not tired I guess." he replied bringing an arm around her and she dropped her head to his shoulder. The pair stood in silence for a while.

"Do you want to tell me what has you so distracted?" Pepper asked, and Tony let out a sigh before bringing his glass to his lips and taking a sip. She looked up to him, waiting for him to answer. "I could take a guess and probably get it right." he turned meeting her eyes. "Tony-"

"She's alone. There was some thing with Barton, and he left her and took the baby with him." Pepper's eyes widened at the news. "And she's wrapped up in something, I don't know. Then there's still Ross on her ass, and whatever HYDRA lackeys out there that are still after her, and she's just alone."

"You spoke to her?" Pepper asked and Tony let out a sigh before giving a nod. She should've expected it. His whole attitude of not caring and not worrying just had to be an act. And yet a part of her wished it wasn't.

"Saw her actually." he replied turning back to the woman. "It was a brief meeting, but I needed to see her, make sure she was alright." Pepper turned away, still a bit shocked all of this had happened. "Pep-"

"How do we help her?" Pepper asked instead and turned back to the man who stared with a look. "What?"

"We?" he asked and she looked at him with a shake of her head. "You want to help her?"

"You know despite everything that's happened with all of us, I did believe at the heart of it that me and Katie were friends. So yes, if she's in some kind of trouble, then I would like to help." Tony met Pepper's eyes a smile curling on his lips before he brought them to hers in a kiss. He let out a sigh and turned back to the city. "Tony-"

"She knows how to hide from me...from everyone. She seems hell bent on not pulling anyone else with her, and I get it. She's trying to play it safe. She's not giving much room to do anything."

"You could always start with the most obvious starting point." Pepper said and Tony looked over to her in confusion. "Clearing her name with Ross." Tony let a snort before turning away.

"That may actually be the most difficult. Ross is a brick wall. He's had it in for her for years, so I doubt I will be able to get over this obsession he has."

"You could at least try." Pepper replied and Tony looked over to her. "I mean Tony Stark seems to have a way of convincing people to do the things they never thought they would do. I can attest to that." Tony chuckled but turned away in thought. "Everyone has a pressure point, you just have to find out what that is for the Secretary of State." she placed a kiss to his cheek before turning and heading back in side. Tony stood there for a moment, before a sudden idea hit him. He slipped his phone from his pocket and dialed before bringing his phone to his ear.

"Hey Matt, it's...as if you were even sleeping. Look, I need your help, so drag yourself away from whoever you picked up tonight and meet me over in the lab." he was about to end the call, but stopped. "Oh and bring food, whatever is fine, as long as it's things I like."

Stephen opened his eyes, awaken by a shifting in the air. He quickly sat up, glancing around his room searching for the source of the sudden change in the atmosphere. The man stood to his feet and slowly went to his door, pulling it open and glancing out into the hallway. He spotted Wong who seemed to be wearing the same perplexed expression. They share a look, both silently asking the same question. 'What's going on?'

Both men slowly walked down the hall, following the mysterious energy. Neither seemed too surprised as they ended up right outside of Katie's room. Stephen reached forward, twisting the door knob before pushing open the door. And of all the scenes they expected to see, neither was quite ready to see the woman floating a few feet above her bed a swirl of lights and an ominous wind moving around her. They're stopped frozen by the sight, unsure what to do.

"What's happening?" Stephen asks over to Wong, assuming the man knew what was happening.

"I'm not sure." Wong says taking a step forward. "But something about this doesn't feel right. We need to get her to wake up." he looks back to Stephen. "You have to do it."

"Me, why me?"

"Because you're her guide, and if she is lost, you are the one to help her out of it. Now hurry." Stephen let out a sigh before taking a few steps forward. He wasn't sure what to do, but after a moment he reached up taking her hand in his and the moment he did, he was no longer in the Sanctum.

_Stephen found himself standing in the middle of a city street. A familiar New York street that's usually crowded with people and cars, but now was oddly void of any life. The man spun around at the sudden sound of a deep throaty laugh, but he couldn't find the source. He lifted his eyes to the sky, only now realizing that it had been torn revealing a deep space that should not be visible from where he stood. The laughter continued making Stephen feel uneasy as he began moving in search of Katie. He suddenly spotted a large figure in the distance, and assumed that's where the laughter was coming from. Stephen's feet continued to move, until a hand suddenly grabbed his arm stopping him. He whipped around, his eyes widening at the sight of Katie. He opened his mouth to speak, only for her to reach over and cover his mouth with her hand as she shook her head._

_When she removed her hand, she took a step forward, to stand beside Stephen, as their eyes looked over to the tall figure who stood looking up to the sky, still laughing until he just stopped. Stephen suddenly took Katie's hand in his, when the figure turned their way._

_"This is a dream. This is just a dream." Stephen says before turning to Katie who couldn't tear her eyes from the figure now staring at her._

_"No, this is not a dream." she turned to Stephen and shook her head. "This is a warning."_

Stephen didn't expect to hit the floor so hard and so suddenly, and Katie didn't expect to drop back to her bed. Stephen sat up, sliding a hand across the back of his head as he stood to his feet.

"A warning of what exactly?" he asked looking over to Katie who opened her eyes and suddenly jumped from the bed.

"Thanos." was all she said before rushing toward the closet. There was a box that she plucked from the shelf and before digging through it. Stephen walked over just as she plucked out a notebook and before paging through it, stopping on a page.

"What?" Stephen said and she looked over to him before turning the notebook toward him, showing a rough drawing of a purplish gray man. Stephen realized he looked like the figure from the dream. "This is Thanos?"

"Yes, I thought he was apart of my imagination. After my daughter was born, I started having these strange dreams about talking trees, and talking raccoons, but I also dreamed about him. Thanos, whose soul purpose was finding the all the stones for-" she flipped through the notebook before finding the page she was looking for and turning it to Stephen. "It's called the Infinity Gauntlet. It will give him immense power and make him unstoppable." she turned notebook around, and looked down to the drawing. "I didn't think it was real. I mean this can't be real-" she looked back up to Stephen and shook her head. "This is crazy, this is impossible, this can't-"

"Hey," he placed his hands on her shoulders. "You can't choose which impossible things to believe in and those you don't. Right now you need to trust what you feel." Katie dropped her eyes back down to the sketch and the feeling was undeniable. "Is he coming?"

"Yes." Katie said lifting her eyes to the man. "He's coming, and we have to-" a sudden crash startled them and they shared a look before rushing out to find the source of the sound. Katie trailed behind Stephen and Wong, feeling a breeze as she caught up to them. She found them both at the top of the steps, and so she pushed them aside, her eyes widening at the sight of an old friend lying in a pile of rubble in a hole in the steps.

"Thanos is coming." Bruce muttered looking up to them. "Thanos is coming." Stephen glanced over to Katie who turned back to him and sighed.

Bruce wasn't completely sure of much at the moment, but he definitely knew that something bad was headed to earth. What he didn't expect was to fall directly into the place where he would be able to find help. And he definitely didn't expect Katie to be there. Bruce stood in the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror. He knew he should be moving with urgency, but he keeps playing the events prior over and over in his head. He was with Thor on a ship and then Thanos appeared, and destruction followed. Loki is dead, and when the Hulk attempted to fight back, he was no match. Bruce has no idea how they're going to beat this thing, but he knows he really doesn't have the time to have mental break in the bathroom.

With one final deep breath, Bruce finally turned and stepped out of the bathroom, only to be engulfed in another hug from the woman he didn't expect. He chuckled slightly and returned the hug. He didn't expect to find her here, but he was relieved to see someone familiar at the moment.

"I don't think we have time to keep hugging." Bruce said glancing down to the woman. He looked around the room and suddenly had questions. "What exactly is this place and why are you here?" Katie pulled from the hug and looked up to the man. He looked her over, suddenly realizing something. "You're not pregnant."

"I'm not. I have a daughter who you haven't met yet." Katie said with a sad smile. "Her name is Natalia Antoinette Barton. She's actually about to turn two." she turned away from Bruce, trying not to feel the sadness of not being with her daughter, but failing.

"Hey," Bruce spoke, and Katie turned back to him. "What's going on?"

"I'll give you the cliff notes version on the way down stairs." Katie replied nudging her head toward the door.

Stephen stood looking up to the current hole in the ceiling of the sanctum.

"And you say you've heard of this Thanos before?" Stephen asked, before turning to Wong who nodded. "What are the chances that Katie's dreams coincide with a falling hulk in our Sanctum?" Both turned at the sound of voices, where they see Bruce and Katie coming down the stairs.

"So he just took her and left? Clint?" Bruce asked and Katie nodded. "That-" Bruce shook his head. "That seriously doesn't sound like him. He loves you, he wouldn't-"

"Well he did, and right now I'm glad he did. If Thanos is coming then I want him and Tai as far away as possible." she looked over to Stephen and Wong. "Right now we know what Thanos is looking for, and you have one of them around your neck. Then there's Vision who I have no idea where he is or—"

"We have to find Tony." Bruce suddenly said, and Katie turned to him with a shake of her head. "What? I kind of figure this all powerful alien guy was reason enough to bring the Avengers back together. Plus Tony has to be keeping tabs on Vision and—"

"I said I didn't know where Vision is, but I'm sure I could find him. We don't need to call Tony." she turned back to Stephen. " Whatever is happening, it's happening soon, so-"

"Why shouldn't we call Tony?" Bruce asked and Katie sighed and turned back to him. "What's going on?"

"Bruce, no one knows I'm here. I don't want anyone to know I'm here. If this thing is as big as I believe-"

"It is, trust me, I've seen this bastard first hand, so no offense, I doubt we will be able to fight him on our own. So right now it's time for you to stop running."

"I'm not-" Bruce gave a look that made the woman shake her head. She glanced over to Stephen and Wong who only silently stared. "Tell him we can do this without them."

"You tell him." Stephen replied and Katie glared at him before letting out a huff and turned back to Bruce.

"We-" the words couldn't even come out of her mouth because she knew they weren't true. She knew the fight they were inching closer to would take more than the four of them, and so she groaned before turning back to Stephen. "Could you find Tony?"

"I could, but-"

"I know, but I'm not ready for him to see it." Katie said and Stephen took a step toward her closing the distance between them and she sighed. Bruce looked between the pair curiously.

"At some point he will, they all will." and with that Stephen turned and walked away.

"Are you two...?" Bruce whispered over to Katie who looked at him like he was crazy and he just held up his hands. "Never mind."

Matthew was being a stubborn little jerk, which Tony told him as he and Pepper stood in front of him at the lab.

"It's not happening Tony. I love you, you know I do, but I love my sister more, and I made her a promise to not contact her unless necessary." Matthew replied. .

"And me standing here telling you that I can help her, is what?"

"Words Tony. You have yet to explain to me how you can help her. Look right now we have to trust that she knows what she's doing and that-"

"You think this guy she's with will be able to keep her safe?" Tony asked with a shake of his head. "Look Barton, the dead Hawk walking left her and now she's relying on people she probably shouldn't trust."

"Well when it comes to reading people, my sister usually has a good eye." Matthew said, with a roll of his hand. "Except for the dead Hawk walking."

"Could you two stop calling him that." Pepper sighed. "I want plausible deniability if something really does happen." she turned to Matthew. "And I know you want to protect your sister, but you know her better than we do, if she truly was in some serious trouble, would she ask for help if even she knew she needed it?" Matthew thought over the question and hated the answer.

"Just make the call Mattie. I'll have FRIDAY trace it and then-" there was a sudden clicking sound in the air, and they all turned to see sparks of light appearing. The sparks expanded and formed into a circle and out of that circle walked a strange man wearing a cape.

"Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me." They all turn to the man in obvious shock. Pepper turned grabbing Tony's arm, definitely not expecting to see anyone appearing out of circle of lights. "Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."

"I'm sorry, you giving out tickets or something?" Tony asked watching the man warily.

"Wait, I know you." Matthew says pointing to the man.

"We need your help. Look, it's not overselling to say that the fate of the universe is at stake." Stephen replied hoping the urgency was clear. There was no time for questions right now.

"And who's "we"?" Tony asks, and Bruce knowing Tony's suspicions won't be eased unless given a reason, decides to make himself be known. The three of them turn in shock at Bruce who walks from the spinning circle of light over to them.

"Hey Tony." Bruce greets, and Tony still stunned can barely speaks.

"Bruce." Tony says still looking at his friend who he hadn't seen in years. Bruce glances over to Pepper with a nod.

"Pepper."

"Hi." is all Pepper can say at the moment, her brain still reeling from all the sudden unexpected craziness they'd just been plopped into. Tony looks down to Bruce and can see the exhaustion in his eyes, but there's something else.

"Matt." Bruce greets looking over to the man who waves before turning to the man wearing the cape.

"You ok?" Tony asks and Bruce turns back to him, and just brings the man into a hug. Tony returns the hug, looking down to his friend before glancing over to Pepper who places a hand on Bruce's arm as well.

"Are they hugging?" a distant voice asked. A voice that made the two men pull back and turn back to Stephen who glanced back as well.

"Kitten?" Tony took a step forward when Katie suddenly walked out as well. "You're-"

"I'm here and it's a crazy story, but Stephen is right, we don't have time." Katie said before glancing over to Pepper. "Hey Pepper, we need to borrow your fiancé, kind of some serious intergalactic bullshit headed our way and we could use the Iron Ass' help." she glanced over to Tony and Bruce with a nod. "Unless you two want catch up over some tea and braid each others' hair?"

"Katie-" It was Pepper who spoke and Katie turned to the woman and they stared for a moment.

"Don't worry, I'll get him back to you in one piece." she turned about to return back to the sanctum but stopped and turned back to the woman and held up two fingers. "Two pieces max." she looks over to Matthew with a pointed finger. "And you can't-" before Katie could even say a word, Matthew simply walked passed her not giving her a chance to tell him to stay. "Matt!" he'd already walked into the sanctum and she just shook her head.

Tony always expected there to be another out of this world fight with aliens, and powers beyond his skill set, and he'd spent a lot of time trying to prepare for it. Sure the whole Ultron thing didn't work, but he learned from him. So as he stood in some old brownstone, watching some guy wave his hands and somehow create a pretty realistic image of the galaxy, he realized maybe he wasn't as prepared as he thought.

"From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom!" the image shows an explosion that reveals six stones."The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

"Space." Stephen continues, as the corresponding stone lights up as he speaks. "Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. And Time." Stephen glances down, and lifts his hands to open the Eye of Agamotto, revealing the Time Stone emitting emerald light.

"Six?" Katie asks turning to Stephen and Wong. "Six Stones?"

"It's what the ancient texts says." Wong replies in confusion, and Katie shakes her head. "Why?"

"I don't know, I—" she turns to Stephen who watches her as well. "I think there's more to it than that. Something that isn't written, maybe it can't be written." the pair stare at each other and the others look on in confusion.

"Is this a staring contest because it's rude to have in the middle of an existential crisis." Tony says standing to his feet as he looks between Katie and Stephen. He'd been watching the pair since he arrived, how they seemed to be having little whispered side conversations all huddled close together, and he for one didn't like it. "Tell me his name again."

"Thanos." Bruce said. "He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York. That's him." Tony lets out a deep sigh and turns away.

"This is it." he mutters before turning back to the others. "What's our timeline?"

"No idea." Bruce says.

"Soon." Katie says with certainty and they turn to her. "I can't explain how I know that, but just assume I'm right, and what is happening could be happening within the next couple of minutes." she glanced over to Stephen and she gave a nod.

"Will you two stop doing that!" Tony says walking over and standing between the pair.

"Look, he has the Power and Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe." Bruce says getting back to the matter at hand. " If he gets his hands, on all six Stones, Tony..."

"He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of." Stephen adds, and Tony turns and leans against a the cauldron beside him and begins stretching as if he's about to go for a run.

"Did you seriously just say "hitherto undreamt of"?" Tony asks.

Katie shakes her head and looks over to Matthew who has his phone pressed against his ear. She walks over to him just as he pulls the phone from his ear and glances over to see her.

"You know I know I should call this in. Another Alien attack, is at the top of the things I should report, but I just don't even know what I would say." Katie sees his hand shaking a bit, and she takes his hand in hers. "I remember seeing you on television during the whole Battle of New York thing, I remember thinking how bad-ass you had to be to fight freaking aliens, and how if you could do it, I could probably do it too." he looked over to his sister and shook his head. "Maybe I shouldn't have walked through the portal of swirling lights."

"Mattie, hey, you're kind of a bad-ass too, and I know this is scary, and I know you're probably freaking out right now, but it is now our responsibility to save the world and that includes you. I'm making you an honorary Avenger, ok, and I promise you are going to make it to the end of this."

"How can you promise that, Rinny?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because I won't allow for any other outcome than for you to live." she gave his hand a squeeze before turning to see Tony walk over to them, the flip phone in hand. "What's happening?"

"Everyone wants you to call Cap." Tony says and Katie quirks a brow before looking over to the guys behind him who just shake their head.

"You're going to have to talk to him at some point Tony." Katie replied before taking the phone from his hand.

"And find Vision." Tony said quickly and Katie looked back up to him in confusion. "Bruce said you may have a way of finding him, unless you know exactly where he is. I mean he did seem to have a bit of a crush on you."

"He did not-" Katie let out a frustrated sighed. "You lost him?"

"So do you have a way to find him or-" Katie turned around and shook her head. She wasn't sure if she's ready to explain just how crazy her life has gotten.

"Steve's good at the whole lost and found thing, he can find Vision." Katie turned back to Tony who looked at her curiously.

"You're hiding something." he said and Katie just turned away from him. "And if we're about to be knee deep in another alien attack, I think your best friend deserves some honesty, I mean unless the role's been taken by some smart ass in a cape all of a sudden?"

"I feel so bad that Pepper will have to deal with this for like ever." Katie says before looking down to the phone. She'd only flipped the phone open before she heard the faint noise of something. She lifted her eyes to Tony who looked as confused as she before they turned to the others. They noticed Stephen's hair oddly blowing in a wind.

"Hey Doc, you wouldn't by chance be moving your hair right now, would you?" Tony asked, and Stephen lifted his eyes now noticing her hair moving as well.

"At the moment, no." he replied before their eyes look up to the hole in the ceiling created by the falling Hulk and what looks like falling debris before turning to the door, only now realizing that there are people running out there. Tony walks for the door, pulling it open to see people frantically running, and they all seemed to be fleeing from the same direction. Tony quickly walks out, Wong, Bruce and Matthew behind him. Stephen stops in front of Katie who doesn't seem to move.

"I thought you were usually more active in moments like this." Stephen says and Katie glances over to him. "What is it?"

"It's starting." Katie replies before placing a hand to Stephen's arm. "I think we're missing something. There's something that doesn't feel right about there only being six stones. I don't know why, but you need to remember that."

"Hey-" before he could speak, Katie had turned and rushed out the door. She saw Tony up ahead and went to follow. She came to a stop at the sudden car crashing into the light pole beside her.

"Matt!" she called and her brother turned his stunned eyes to her, "Help them!" she pointed to the car and her brother gave a nod before rushing over. Katie went to follow Tony whose back was pressed against the wall of a building as he peeked over the side. "How many is it?" Tony turned back to her, and she saw the glasses her were now wearing.

"You know it's moments like this, I'd love to see you in a suit of armor." Tony says and Katie chuckled despite herself. "Which I'm actually working on, but it's not finished, so you should be going back that way." he nudged his head before walking along the street, Stephen, Wong and Bruce now walking over as well.

"Tony, don't you dare-"

"I would love to have this argument with you kitten, like I seriously would, but not now." he glanced over to her with a look of seriousness. "You still have a daughter who would like you to continue to be alive, now go!"

And so Katie just stood there, her back still pressed against that wall as the guys went to fight whatever monster was waiting for them. She knew Tony was right. She had a little girl who she didn't want to leave. She refused to let her daughter grow up as she did without a mother. But there was a problem. Katie turned her head at the sudden crash, and knew the fighting had begun and for the life of her she couldn't just turn around and run away. Tony had his suit, and Stephen and Wong had their magic, and Bruce had a Hulk, and she had none of the above. And yet she took a deep breath and pulled her back from that wall, and began walking toward whatever dangers lied ahead.

"Dr. Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us..." Stephen says before lifting his hands, and with a simple spin of his hand, Bruce falls through a magically appearing door and lands in Central Park. Stephen lifts his head to see Katie as she walks over to him, her eyes glancing up to see Tony's current attack, "You know, I kind of agreed with you being far away from this."

"I saw this coming which means I think I'm supposed to be right here in it." Katie says looking up to the alien creature who stands in front of them. "Ebony Maw. One of Thanos' minions."

"Yeah, we got that, any idea how to get rid of him?" Stephen asked before lifting his hands and getting his magical shields at the ready.

"No, but keep that Stone safe, or he will be the last of your worries." Katie says looking over to the man, giving him a wink. "I think I'm going to say hi." he looked at her in confusion, but then she turned and began walking toward the alien.

"Wha—no, no!" he called after her, but it didn't seem to stop her. Tony drops down in front of her stopping her, and just shakes his head.

"Sorry Kitten, but you don't get to play the hero with this. At some point your luck's going to run out." Tony glances over to Stephen. "How about you do your abrah cadabrah and get her as far away as possible, and while you're at it, get that stone even further."

"It stays with me." Stephen declares.

"Exactly, bye!" and with that Tony looks back to Katie. "Get the hell out of here!" he lifts up into the sky to move the fight away from Stephen and Katie, by attacking Maw. Katie stands there for a moment before turning to Stephen who seems to be staring at her with wide eyes.

"What?" she asks before looking down to herself and seeing light illuminating from her hands. "Oh." she lifts her hands and it's quite strange the feeling that suddenly passes over her. There's no time to ask questions, or to over think because right now only one thing mattered. There was a crash, and Katie lifted her head and didn't see Tony anymore. She did see Ebony Maw who was now standing directly in front of her, his eyes looking right into hers.

"Well, well, well. You are not from this planet, now are you?" he asks as he lifts a hand to touch her, but before he does Katie lifts her fist and throws a punch that sends the alien flying down the street. She lifts her fist with wide eyes not expecting that at all. She looks over her shoulder to Stephen who is still staring in shock as well. "Um, I'm going to go help Tony. You got this?" he simply nods and in a blink of an eye, she's just gone.

Katie ran, finding Tony's fight was now happening in the middle of Central Park where he seemed to have help from New York's friendly neighborhood Spider man. She felt the power moving through her strengthening as she picks up speed.

"Hey Cull!" she calls out and the alien turns in time to see the woman shoot forward toward him. The moment Katie's hands latched onto the monster, they're instantly dropping into snow. Katie lies on her back for a moment, her entire body buzzing. She hears the growl of Cull Obsidian and she quickly jumps to her feet. He does the same and runs to attack her. "Oh, sorry, got to run!" and just as the alien attempts to tackle her, she's just gone.

When Katie appears back into the park she's standing behind Bruce whose eyes are to the sky.

"Where did everyone go?" Katie asks, and Bruce whips around his eyes wide as he looks to her. "What?"

"You were here, and then you weren't and now you're here again." Bruce says and their eyes turn to the ship that's getting higher and higher in the sky. Katie places a hand over her heart and takes a step forward.

"Stephen's on that ship, isn't he?" she asks turning back to Bruce whose staring at her with wide eyes. "Bruce?"

"You were here and then you weren't and now you're here again." Bruce repeated the words and Katie suddenly realizes how the act of seeing her abilities may have freaked the man out. "How did you do that?"

"Honestly, I'm not completely sure." Katie says her eyes looking back to that ship. "What I am sure of is, we have to get Stephen and that stone before Thanos does." she glanced around the park. "Where's Tony?" she turned back to Bruce who simply looked back up to that ship. Katie followed his eyes and her heart sank. "No!" she began running. Where she was going, she didn't really know, but she wasn't going to stop.

Once she found herself standing below the ship, her feet finally stopped and she focused every beam of energy inside of herself to transport to the shop. Her entire body strained, and she groaned, her fists clenched at her side, but nothing happened. Soon there would be no use, because in an instant the space ship just warped sped further into the sky until it was no longer visible.

"No!" Katie screamed, her eyes boring up to the clouds in hope of spotting the ship. This couldn't be happening. It was the single thought she had in this moment. Not only was Stephen and the Time stone on a ship presumably headed to Thanos, but Tony was in tow. She turned at the sound running footsteps and turned to see Bruce who stopped in front of her a bit out of breath. "I couldn't-" she lifted her eyes to the sky once again.

"Hey, right now the plan is still the same." Bruce said and Katie dropped her eyes back to him. "We have to have faith that Tony, Stephen and Peter can-"

"Wait, Peter is on that ship?!" Katie asked, her eyes looking to the sky, and she's once again pulled into a whirlwind of emotions ranging from angry to completely afraid. "He's just a kid." she looked back to Bruce. "He's just a kid."

"You know Tony will take care of him." Bruce said and Katie glanced up to the sky with a shake of her head. "We have to find Vision." Katie brought her eyes back to Bruce. Bruce held up the flip phone Tony must've dropped. "I was going to call Steve, unless you have another way to find him." Katie looked to the doctor for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"Call Steve. I need to find Matt." Katie said before turning and rushing off.

When Katie found Matthew, he was just as she left him. Still helping people get to safetly. When he spotted his sister, he quickly ran over.

"Hey what the hell just happened?" Matthew asked. "I saw that wizard guy being pulled by one of those alien guys. Then I think I saw the Spider kid go after him and then Tony went after both of them." Katie didn't say anything and from the look on her face, she didn't really need to. "They have the stone."

"They do. But we're going to trust Stephen, Tony and Peter to keep it safe." Katie says glancing around the streets, unable to shake how reminiscent the scene was to so many of her dreams, except now there were way more people. "Bruce is calling Steve. We need to find Vision and make sure his stone doesn't get in Thanos' hands." Katie turned away, and her brother caught her arm.

"Hey, this isn't your fault. You didn't know any of this was going to happen." Matthew said and Katie turned to him and shook her head.

"Actually I did." she glanced up to the sky. "I knew he was coming, but I refused to believe it." she felt a surge of emotions hit her in that moment because she couldn't stop thinking about her friends in some spaceship in the sky. She looked back to her brother. "I didn't want to believe what was staring me right in the face, and now-" she shook her head and her eyes went right back to the sky as if at any moment she'd see Tony in that Iron suit flying back down. She needed to see him right now. She need to know that he was alright. Right now she needed to know that this thing that was once just a nightmare in her head and had spilled out didn't just swallow him up and take him away from her. "Get as many people to safety until help arrives." Katie looked back to her brother who stared at her and she placed a hand to his cheek. "You survived your first alien fight. I'm proud of you."

"Rinny-"

"But it's going to have to be your last." she says before bringing her arms around him in a hug. "I'd die if I lost you to any of this." she placed a kiss to his cheek before pulling back from the hug. "I love you little brother." she attempted to turn, but he caught her hand and she turned back to him.

"What the hell was that?" he asked pulling her back to him. "That sounded way too much like a goodbye, and you don't say goodbye to me. You're going to kick some alien ass and then you're going to come back and annoy me like you always do." he watched her and waited for her to confirm is orders. "Rinny, you need to promise me that you're going to come back." she took a step toward her brother and smiled.

"I promise I'll never you leave you." she said, giving his hand a squeeze before pulling away. Matthew stood there and watched as his sister got further and further away and he couldn't shake the feeling that it would be a long time before he saw her again.

Pepper sat on the edge of her bed clutching her phone to her chest. The call to Tony was just disconnected and every attempt to call him back was unsuccessful. The last words he was able to speak to her was his confirmation that he was indeed on the space ship that hovered above New York. Now she didn't know what was happening. She didn't know he was safe or even alive. She pulled the phone back and once again dialed his number.

"Pepper-" Pepper lifted her eyes to the unexpected voice and her eyes widened at the sight of Katie standing in front of her. Pepper looked around the room, unsure where the woman came from. "I know-"

"Where is he?!" Pepper demanded as she stood to her feet and stalked toward Katie. "Why aren't you with him?! You're supposed to be with him, making sure he comes back to me! You promised me!" Pepper shoved the woman, and Katie stumbled back a bit. "You-" Pepper pointed a finger at the woman. "If anything happens to him-"

"Pepper stop!" Katie snapped. "I'm here to tell you that my promise still stands. I don't care what I have to do, but I promise you, I will get Tony back to you. You will marry him and you will spend the rest of your life with that man." Katie took a step forward. "This moment, this is why I'm in his life. I never understood it, and I don't think neither did you, but this is it Pepper. I don't know how or when, but I am going to find him and I am going to bring him back." Katie reached forward and took Pepper's hand and Pepper grasped it right back. After a moment, Katie took a step back and Pepper watched her closely.

"Thank you." Pepper said and Katie gave the woman a smile.

"Don't thank me yet. Save it for later, and make sure it's a good one." and in the blink of an eye, the woman is just gone, and Pepper stands there unsure of what just happened. She looked around the room, and took a step forward in search of where the woman has just gone.

Tony wasn't sure what to expect when he climbed into the space ship to rescue the doctor. He didn't expect for Peter, who he remembers telling to go back home, to appear back on the ship. He didn't expect for another battle with the alien guy Ebony Maw, and he didn't really expect to win. Right now they were flying in a donut of a space ship, and he was annoyed. Tony walked past Strange, shaking his head and with his armor retreating into its containment as Strange gets to his feet as his cape returns to it's place around his neck.

"We've gotta turn this ship around." Stephen says and Tony turns to him with a glare.

"Yeah. Now he wants to run." Tony turns away from the man with a shake of his head. " Great plan."

"No, I want to protect the stone." Stephen replies firmly, also growing annoyed with the man. "I have to protect this stone." Tony walks towards the expansive front viewport, showing a hyperspeed/warp effect. From what he could tell, they were moving very fast and only getting him further and further away from Pepper.

"And I want you to thank me now." Tony says looking back to Stephen. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" Strange asked and Tony's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Who just saved your magical ass?!" Tony asked, "Me."

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet." Stephen replied before glancing around the ship.

"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused." Tony shook his head before turning back to look out the viewport. "I told her and she-"

"She?" Stephen said and Tony turned back to him. "Katherine? Where is she?"

"That's just it!" Tony snapped. "I don't know. She ran after and jumped on the other alien monster thing and just disappeared!" Tony watched as the doctor turned away and let out a sigh of relief. "Which you don't seem too surprised about." Stephen turned back to Tony. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything to her, and right now there are more pressing issues. Like who-" he turned to Peter who'd been standing there watching the exchange between the two men. "Wait, I know you. You're the boy scout." Peter looked at the man and realized where he recognized him from.

"The what?" Tony asked.

"No, no." Peter said with a shake of his head. "That-" he looked over to Tony. "I was looking for Katie, and he opened the door, and just assumed I was a boy scout for some reason." Peter hoped the excuse made sense, but then he noticed the look on Tony's face and realized why he probably should've just lied. "And you're probably wondering how I knew where Katie was?"

"I am." Tony says walking back over to the boy. "You knew she was alive and where she'd been staying."

"I- uh, I ran into her on my way home. We talked and then she rushed off. I don't know why, but I followed her and it lead me to that cool looking brownstone. Where uh-" he turned to Stephen. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." Peter held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Peter."

"Doctor Strange." Stephen replied and Peter frowned a bit before dropping his hand.

"Oh, we're using made up names, uh, I'm Spider-man." he replied before turning to the awaiting gaze of Tony. "And she wasn't even there."

"You saw her and didn't think to tell me."

"I did!" Peter replied. "You were the first person I was going to tell, but she asked me not to." Peter shrugged and Tony just shook his head before turning and walking back over to the viewport.

"Right now all that matters is keeping this stone as far away from Thanos as possible." Stephen said and Tony glanced back to him. "Can you get us home?" Tony turned away, unsure if the answer right now was to run. "Tony-"

"Yeah I heard you. I'm thinking...I'm not so sure we should." Tony replied and Stephen looked at the man as if he were crazy.

"Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos. I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here." Stephen shook his head as he glanced back to Peter hoping for some support on this argument, but the boy didn't say anything. He turns back to to Tony who stalks over to him.

"No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back! And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?" Stephen doesn't say anything for a moment thinking over the choices. He turns away in thought but shakes his head as he turns back to the man.

"Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die. She wouldn't-" Stephen let out a sigh. "I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it."

"Nice." Tony replies with a shake of his head. "Good. Moral compass. We're straight." Tony turns and walks over to Peter and formally taps each of his shoulders with the edge of his hand as if knighting him. "Alright, kid. You're an Avenger now." he hates this moment so much, he can't even look at Peter in the eyes. This fight was going to be rough, he knew it, and Peter was just a kid. He wasn't supposed to be here.

When Bruce finally found Katie, she was sitting on the steps of the Sanctum. She looked up to him as he walked over before standing to her feet.

"Steve and Natasha are working on finding Vision." Katie shook her head before pulling a flip phone from her pocket and Bruce looked with wide eyes. "You have one too?" he watched as she typed a few keys before slipping it back into her pocket. "Ok, what just happened?"

"I just sent Steve a message about Vision." Katie replied and Bruce waited for her to continue. "He's in Scotland." the man in front of her didn't say a word, and Katie knew he wanted more explanation. "You want me to tell you how I know that, but I don't even know where to-" the phone in her pocket rang and she groaned, pulling the flip phone back from her pocket, seeing it was Steve calling her back. "And here is Steve probably wondering the same thing, but we don't have time." she simply sent him another text saying such before looking back up to Bruce. "Bruce-"

"Just be honest with me. What happened to you?" Bruce asked and Katie looked at him for a moment before shaking her head and turning away. "Does it have to do with Thanos?" she turned back to the man and let out a sigh.

"How about I tell you on the way."

"On the way where?"

"The team's rendezvous spot." Katie says nudging her head for the doctor to follow her.

The moment she stepped out of the car and looked up to the Avenger facility, Katie let out a heavy breath she hadn't known she was holding. This is where it began. The moment she walked away from her nice, safe life with her husband and daughter because of some meeting she knew was destined to fail the moment she heard about it. Bruce started to go inside, but stopped when he realized she wasn't following him. He glanced back to her, unsure what he should do right now. That seemed to be something happening a lot to him recently. Bruce wasn't sure what Katie would tell him on the drive here, but he most certainly didn't expect for her to tell him that she now has magical powers. It's what he witnessed in the park and at this point he just couldn't believe it. It didn't make any sense. This woman who he has known for years, whose never had magical bone in her body, now suddenly had abilities. He had questions that she could barely answer because apparently this was new to her as well.

Katie's eyes turned to Bruce who was just standing there looking at her, and she hated it. She knew he was trying to see it. He was looking at her as if she were a new formula he was trying to solve, and to be honest she felt like she was. She didn't want him to look at her as if she wasn't her. It was her biggest fear. That they wouldn't see her any more.

"Stop staring Bruce." she said before walking toward the front door. The facility was unusually empty, and Katie figures it probably because of the alien space ship that just invaded earth again. Bruce and Katie walked over, and stepped onto the elevator. The silence between them was awkward. Katie just shook her head before turning to Bruce. "Speak!" Bruce opened his mouth expecting at least one of the hundreds of thoughts spinning around in his head right now would just come out, and yet nothing. "Bruce-"

"This doesn't make sense." he finally said, and it seemed to be the thought that was constant. "Are you sure something didn't happen to you? Maybe some radioactive waste-" Katie glared at him and he threw his hands up. "I'm sorry, I'm just-" he looked at the woman for a moment. "What if this isn't a good thing? What if this could somehow hurt you, or worse? People don't just develop magical powers overnight." Bruce let out a breath and waited for her to respond. "I just don't want this to some how take you away." Katie looked at the man for a moment, when the doors finally slid open, but neither moved.

"I don't want it to take me away either. But it's here. When all of this is over, when the heroes beat the bad guys, then we can focus on this, but now we have work to do." Katie said before turning and finally stepping off the elevator. She heard Bruce follow, and decided to stop and turn to him. "You're the first person I've told this Bruce."

"Why me?" Bruce asked. "Why not Tony?" he thought about that for a moment and just shook his head. "Actually never mind. Tony's reaction is going to be—"

"Tony." Katie said and the man chuckled.

"Wait, Barton, does he-"

"No, he doesn't." Katie said with a shake of her head. "It was just starting when we left and he didn't stick around long enough to figure this out with me." Katie felt the emotion tighten her throat at the thought. She doesn't think she'd be as scared about all of this if Clint was here. If he did that thing where he reassured her that everything would be alright. Now she had to do that for herself, and she wasn't really good at it. Katie turned her eyes back to Bruce who looked like he wanted to say something comforting in this moment, but just didn't know what that was. "You should find Rhodey, and I'm going to head over to the lab. I want to see if I can somehow access FRIDAY, maybe get a last known location on Tony and the others." Bruce gave a nod before watching the woman turn and head down the hall.

When Katie stepped inside Tony's lab she couldn't help but smile. It would make no sense to anyone else, but she could feel him in this room. She pulled off her jacket and spun around for a moment. The last time she was here, she didn't get the big tour she was promised. When she turned around, she began typing away. It didn't take long for her to restore FRIDAY, and the moment she did, Katie lifted her head.

"You with me, FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Katie. How can I help you?" Katie paused for a moment, thinking over the question. She needed to know one thing first.

"Is Tony alive?" she was almost afraid of the answer. It had been hours and Tony was in space, and there hadn't been a word or whistle from the man.

"Mr. Stark's vitals were normal from my last transmission. There was a slightly elevated heart rate, but I'm assuming that was because of the-"

"The fact that he was in outer space." Katie sighed, before typing a few keys. "Alright FRIDAY, I'm assuming since Tony is so far away, you're not able to access his current location. I am going to expand your locale perimeters. I want you to give me Tony's last known location before you lost him?" Katie lifted her eyes to the aerial map and watched as FRIDAY before her search. It was taking longer than Katie could stand, and soon she began pacing as she nervously chewed on her thumb.

"I'm sorry," FRIDAY spoke after a few minutes of searching. "I'm unable to get an exact location of the suit. My systems became scrambled during my last transmission with Mr. Stark, and it's prohibiting me from pinpointing our last point of contact." Katie groaned before turning away.

"Think Katie." She muttered to herself. "You have freaky powers, there has to be a reason. How can I find you Tony?" she continued pacing as her brain began trying to work out this problem in her head. Her eyes glanced up, and she stopped when she noticed that stupid kitten mural on the wall. She let out a heavy sigh. "No matter how many times you remodel this lab, that damn thing still remains on that wall." she closed her eyes taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, and suddenly an idea it her like a strike of lightening. "The Time Stone." she lifted her eyes as dots she'd only now began realized were connected. "I should focus on the Time Stone, not Tony." she turned, closing her eyes once again, and focused everything inside of her on the stone." Inhaling, and exhaling, Katie imagined the stone in her head, able to see it as if it were right in front of her. Soon she was pulled from the moment, so focused that she didn't noticed that the air passing through her lungs suddenly changed.

"Uh, Mr. Stark?"

Katie snapped open her eyes at the familiar voice, and when she did she realized she was no longer standing in Tony's lab. Her eyes were staring right at Stephen who now stood in front of her, a proud look on his face at the sight of her.

"I did it." Katie whispered a smile coming to her face. She shoved Stephen in excitement before spinning around just to see where the hell they were. "I can't believe I did it."

"Did what exactly?" Katie turned at Tony's voice, and she was immediately struck by the look on his face as he stared at her. There was confusion mostly, but then there was something else. Something she didn't recognize. He walked over to her, placing himself right in front of her. "Not that I'm not ecstatic to see you, but how the hell are you standing in front of me, on this space ships light years away from planet earth?" Katie opened her mouth to explain, only to realize she wasn't completely sure how to explain it. She still had no idea how she could do what she could. "Well?" Katie glanced over to Stephen who took a step forward.

"Right now, there are more important things we should be worried about and-"

"No," Tony says interrupting the man before turning back to Katie. "That's not how we work. This doesn't just get pushed under the rug. Not with us." Katie looked at the man for a moment letting out a sighed before giving a nod.

"He's right." Katie says glancing over to Stephen. "He's right." she turns back to Tony. "I have abilities. I have no idea where they came from, or why they suddenly decided to pop up now. The only thing I can assume is that it has something to do with Thanos."

"Are you saying Thanos did this to you?"

"Nothing was done to her." Stranger said in annoyance, and Tony turned a glare to the man, but Katie just held up her hand. "This wasn't done to her."

"Well excuse me for trying to understand what the hell is going on with my best friend since—" he turned back to her. "She left and doesn't talk to me anymore." he shook his had and turned away, heading back over to the view port, and Katie walked over to follow.

"I thought I could save you from it." she said and he turns back to her. "Did you know I've been dreaming about Thanos for years. I've been dreaming about him coming back, and looking for those stones. I knew he was coming, and yet I didn't believe it." Katie dropped her head and slid a hand over her face. "I blew my life to shit. Bart left me and he took my baby, because I couldn't let this go." she looked back up to Tony who was still watching her with that look she was still trying to decipher. "I didn't tell you about it, and I never came to you because if I was wrong, if I was just going insane, if I was just a ticking god damn time bomb, I didn't want anything I loved in the blast radius." Tony shook his head before once again turning away from her. "Tony, I still don't know what this is. I found Stephen and little by little I'm getting some control of it. But why it's happening, where it came from, I don't know." he didn't turn back to her, and that's how she knew he was truly upset. She let out a sigh before turning back to Stephen and glancing back to Peter. "Wait, where's the bad guy?" she glanced between the guys before turning to Tony. "Why-" she glanced back once again. "Why aren't you headed back to Earth." Stephen looked over to Tony who continued staring at the view port. She turned back to Tony and sighed. "Tony-"

"What will running do?" Tony said turning back to the woman. "A fight's coming, and I for one would not like that fight on Earth. That's death that we can prevent. We're taking this fight to him." Tony glanced over to Stephen and Katie followed his eyes. She glared over to the man before turning back to Tony. "He won't expect us to bring the fight to him." Katie looked at him for a moment trying to gauge if he was serious or not. It was the look in his eyes that told her how serious he was.

"No." she said with a shake of her head before walking around him and looking down to the ship's controls. "All of you are coming back to Earth." The button's labels were in a language she didn't recognize, but the controls themselves looked familiar. She pressed a few buttons and they felt the ship suddenly pause.

"Hey," Tony grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. "We're doing this."

"And what is this?!" she snapped angrily. "Do you know?" she glanced over to Stephen and just shook her head. "Oh, you're next." she turned back to Tony. "You have absolutely no idea what this guy is. Look Tony, I get you want to-"

"No, I don't want any of this, but here it is." Tony said. "This fight, it's happening whether on Earth, or wherever Thanos is. I for one would like to avoid putting millions of lives in jeopardy. Right now we have a choice, and this is what we're choosing." Katie stared at the man before looking over to Stephen.

"Do you agree?" she asked, and Stephen gave a nod.

"Unfortunately, Tony is right. This fight is happening. Taking the fight to him helps us avoid unnecessary collateral damage." Stephen said and Katie shook her head before turning back to Tony.

"I promised Pepper that I would bring you back."

"You talked to Pepper?"

"I did. She shoved me. I told her that I would bring you back to her, and that you two would get married." Katie took a step toward the man. "I told her that's why I am in your life." Katie reached forward, and took Tony's hand. "I save you, because you saved me." Tony gripped her hand in his. Katie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ok, ok, this is happening." she conceded because she knew they were right. She pulled away from Tony, and turned way, and he watched the way her eyes looked up and stared at nothing in particular. He smiled at bit at the familiar sight. "He has two stones." she turned back to them. She looked over to Stephen and shook her head. "More dreams I didn't think were true. He has the Space stone and the Power stone." she turned back to Tony. "He doesn't even have them all Tony, and he's still extremely powerful. He's also very smart. So this surprise attack has to take him off his game long enough for you to get that glove off his hand. Without it, you will be able to kill him."

"Ok, how do we do that?" Tony asked, and Katie looked at him sighed.

"You be you. Be smarter-" she turned to Stephen. "Use every resource you have. Do not let him get his hands on that stone." Katie shook her head. "I should've stopped him from getting the two he has, but we can't change that now." she turned back to Tony and sighed.

"I don't like that look."

"There are more stones." Stephen said, and Tony glanced over to her. "She has to make sure they're safe." Tony looked over to the man in confusion before turning back to Katie.

"You?" Tony asks looking at the woman in front of him. His friend, his best friend. He thought he'd pulled all the secrets she had after learning she wasn't just Cher. As it seems, there were still things about his Kitten that were surprising him. "Why—how?" so many questions and so little time.

"I've been running from this Tony for too long, and because of it, he now has two stones. I can't let that happen again. I know where they all are. I can find them. I'm connected to them." she turned when she felt uneasy.

"Hey, Kitten-" she turned back to Tony before bringing her arms around him in a hug. She held onto him tight, wanting to hold on to this moment for longer than it could. She had an inkling of what their future held and she knew she probably wouldn't get another chance to just hug her friend.

"I have to go." she pulled from the hug, and placed a hand on Tony's cheek. "Don't die Iron Ass." she pulled out of his grasp, " and I will more than likely be back." she turns to Stephen, before walking over to him and wrapped her hand around the stone around his neck. She looked up to him, and he gave a nod.

"Protect the stone, I know."

"No, protect Tony and the Stone. You lose either one, and you're a dead man." she says before placing a kiss to his cheek. She spins around to the silent teen who hadn't said much since she appeared on this ship. "Let's go Peter." the boy looked confused before looking over to Tony. "Peter-"

"I want to stay." Peter says turning back to the woman. " I want to help. Mr. Stark made me an Avenger, and I take that seriously." Katie looked at him for a moment before looking over to Tony, who turned away from her glare. "Look I know you think I'm just a kid, but I know what's at risk here." Katie turned back to him. "The world needs saving, and I want to help."

"Peter this isn't idiot muggers, or even what was it-" she turned away in thought. "guys stealing alien tech." she walked over to stand in front of the boy. "Peter, I know you're a hero. I know that when a fight erupts, you want to be there to help, but this fight is beyond everyone in this room, and that includes the guy in the cape with the magical powers behind me." Peter glanced over to Stephen who gave a slight nod. "Peter, you are an Avenger-" he turned back to the woman. "And so am I. This fight Tony, and Strange are searching for will be at the front lines."

"I can handle it." Peter replied with the upmost confidence, and Katie sighed. "I can do this." Peter saw the look in the woman's eyes and could only imagine his aunt giving him the same look if she were standing in front of him. Katie stood there for a moment, thinking, analyzing. Trying to weigh the pros and cons, Trying to quantify and quantify all the risks involved, and in the end she didn't like the number. But also in the end was this brave kid, willing to risk his life to protect this planet. Katie let out a huff, before grabbing the front of Peter's suit and pulling him toward her. His eyes widened in fear unsure what she was about to do.

"I'm getting you back to your aunt in one piece, do you understand? You fight and then you live."

"What if—"

"I will worry about what happens after the what ifs." she replied. She had no idea what that meant, or how she would do it, but she knew it was a promise she was going to keep. She finally lets him go, and takes in a deep breath doubting everything about this moment, and yet letting it happen. "Fine." Katie says looking at the teen. "They're going to need all the help they can get, and I guess that's going to be you." She turned around and looked between Tony and Stephen. "I have to go, but I want you both to know something."

"We know you care, Kitten." Tony said, and Katie turned to him and shook her head.

"I do care Tony," she said with a smile. "But what I was going to say is that, no matter what my purpose is, no matter what I am, I care more about your lives than those stones." she looked over to Stephen. "Fight as hard as you can, for as long as you can, but do not die for the inevitable. If he's going to get those stones, then he will get them. It will then be our job to take them back." she turned back to Tony and gave him a smile. "I'm keeping my promise to Pepper." she walked back over to the view port, looking down to the controls, and blinking a bit as the labels seemed to become blurry before becoming clear and in English. She frowned a bit, unsure what was happening, but she didn't have time to question it. She pressed a few buttons, before pushing back the accelerator lever causing the ship to once again speed through space. Her eyes lifted to the screen which showed the destination. She turned back to the guys and gave a nod. "You're going to Titan. That's Thanos' home world. Not sure that helps you, but I hope it does." Katie took a step forward before taking a deep breath. "I'll be back."

The moment she disappeared, Tony and Peter both stared at the spot she was just standing, their expressions the undeniable look of shock.

"Just so I'm clear, we're putting all of our eggs in the whole element of surprise?" Strange asked, and Tony turned to him, and couldn't help but miss the unbothered look on his face. It was as if a woman magically disappearing in front of him was no big deal.

"Has she always been able to do that?" Peter asked looking between Tony, and Stephen. "I mean it's totally cool, awesome even." Peter turned to Tony who stood glaring over to Stephen. "Uh, maybe I should give you two a moment. I mean this is an alien space ship. When am I ever going to get an opportunity like this again." Peter turned to go look around a bit.

The two men stood in silence for a bit, before Tony finally spoke.

"What happened to her?" Stephen let out a sigh.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure." the mystic replied with a shake of his head. "What I know is that she is important."

"Important to what exactly?"

"I think everything."


	12. Chapter 12

The end was coming. It was in the air of every planet, every star. It was the chill that crept up through the spine, and yet only a few knew the reason why.

Thor sat on a spaceship being flown by an odd looking rabbit, and a Groot. They were in route to Nivadellir where he hoped to receive a new weapon he planned to use against his newest enemy, Thanos. His eyes were locked out the back view port as the stars they passed blurred together in the warp speed. His mind couldn't be torn from the image of his brother.

_Thor's eyes were locked on his brothers'. With all the strength he had, he couldn't even move from the metal trap Thanos had wrapped around him. He seemed to know what was about to happen, before it actually occurred, and he wanted to shut his eyes. To pretend that it wasn't, but there was his brother. Dangling by the neck moments away from death. He attempted to play a trick, because he was Loki, and he thought he could get himself out of anything with a carefully planned trick. He underestimated Thanos' intelligence. Loki's eyes turned back to the beast currently cutting off the circulation to his lungs. He felt death's breath on the back of his neck, and decided he wasn't going out without his final words._

" _You will...never be...a god." Loki gasped as the bones in this throat slowly crushed. Thanos looked amused into the God of Mischief's eyes, and with one simple grip of his hand, the bones in Loki's neck shattered, and the life behind his eyes was no more. Thor screamed his brother's name, but it came out muffled against the metal gag. Thanos lifted his eyes to the man before walking over, still holding on to the dangling body of his brother which he carelessly let drop in front of him. Thor looked down to the unmoving body of his brother, waiting for him to get back up, or for him to appear somewhere else. That's what Loki did. He faked his death, and made a surprise entrance, but this time nothing happened._

" _No resurrections this time." Thanos said with a smile before looking down to his gauntlet and it's new addition._

"So, dead brother, huh?" a voice spoke pulling Thor from the memory. He turned, and looked down to Rocket who stood next to him. "Yeah, that can be annoying."

"Well, he's been dead before, but this time I think it really might be true." Thor said glancing back out through the view port.

"And you said your sister and your dad?"

"Both dead." Rocket’s eyes widened a bit because he wasn't sure what this guy had left to fight for.

"Still got a mom, though?"

"Killed by a dark elf."

"A best friend?"

"Stabbed through the heart." Thor says, his mind traveling to Heimdall. His most trusted friend. This line of questioning only reminded him of how very alone he truly was.

"I am Groot," a small voice spoke, that caused Thor and Rocket to turn to the now teenage Groot.

"What do you mean he has her?" Rocket asked in confusion. "Who is her?" Groot turned his eyes back to the two and smiled.

"I am Groot."

"The heart." Thor said with a furrowed brow, and Groot just simply turned back around.

"Sometimes he just doesn't make sense." Rocket said turning back to Thor whose eyes looked pensive. "What's wrong?" For some reason Thor remembers the vision from the mystical pool he had so long ago. He'd seen the infinity stones, seen the destruction they would bring, and then he saw her. The impossibility in the center of it all.

"I think Groot is right." Thor turns back to the odd little rabbit. "I don't think I'm alone."

It had become an instinct now. Second nature actually. There was a connection, something Katie thinks was always there, something she ignored or suppressed. It was a tether that linked her to something even she didn't understand. Maybe that's why she ran? She was looking for something. Something she didn't even know she was searching for. That search brought her into SHIELD's cross-hairs, entangled her heart with an archer, twisted her life with a billionaire Iron man. And yet she knew there was more. Something was there that she needed to find, and she thinks she was close. She closed her eyes, and once again focused on the infinity stone she was trying to find. She imagined the Mind Stone, saw it as clear as day in her mind, and before she knew it, she felt the wind on her skin.

The smell of fresh rain assaulted her nose, but it was old as if she'd just missed the storm. There was a crack of thunder signaling that it wasn't over. There was a grunt from behind her, and Katie turned only now realizing the fight happening just a couple of feet away. She tilted her head.

"Proxima Midnight and Corvus," she mutters to herself. She frowns a bit because that's the second time it happened. Her knowing the names of aliens she's only seen in long ago dreams. They weren't supposed to be real. They weren't supposed to be engaged in a fight with Steve, Natasha and Sam at the moment either. She turns away from the fight, because at the moment that's not why she's here. Her head turns and she spots Wanda hovering over an injured Vision. His eyes looks up and sees her. When Wanda turns following his gaze she turns, her eyes widening.

"Wait!" a gravelly voice says, and the clashing of metal and painful grunting stops. "That's—" Katie turns, only to realize all eyes are on her, even the two alien beings from a different plant. "It can't be—" It's Corvus whose speaking. He's on the ground, cradling his aching ribs as Proxima stands by his side.

"You should be leaving now." Katie says, and Proxima takes a hold of Corvus' shoulder. "Tell him this is not a fight he's going to win,"

"And yet he will." Proxima replies before a beam of light suddenly appears above them, and in an instant they're beamed up to their ship, along with their weapons.

The moment they're gone, unanswered questions linger as eyes turn back to Katie who is expected to give them what they want, and in this moment she just can't. She shakes her head and rushes over to Vision, crouching in front of him beside Wanda.

"I knew you were coming." Vision said with a weak smile.

"I get the feeling you know a lot of things." she reaches her hand taking Vision's hand and closing her eyes.

"Katie," Steve says as he, Natasha and Sam walk over. "Where did you come from?" It was just one of many questions she didn't have the mental capacity to answer quite yet. She wasn't ready for them to see this person she'd seemed to become overnight. She wasn't ready for the looks, and the suspicions. Right now the entire universe was in the balance, and they were running out of time.

"He can't phase." Katie says opening her eyes and meeting his. He's staring at her, gripping the hand still holding onto his. "How do I fix this?"

"You don't." he says without hesitation. "I'm alive, and the stone is still secure. Anything you do will only make you weaker which I don't think we can afford right now."

"Katie-" it was Steve again, quite annoyed about not knowing exactly what was happening right now. "You need to tell us what's going on?"

"Bruce told you everything you needed to know." Katie says stepping forward and bringing Vision's arm around her shoulder. "We're standing." the being groans slightly as he's pulled to his feet. She turns finally seeing the hard stares from Steve and Natasha. "He needs to be taken somewhere safe."

"I know a place, but—" Steve stops when Katie turns away, bring a hand to her head. "Katie?"

"I'm fine, I just—" she lifts her eyes to Sam. "Sam, come help him." as she slips from Vision's grasps, Sam slips in to hold him up. "I have go." she turns back to Vision, with a silent look he completely understands. He simply gives a nod, before the woman turns and starts to walk away. She's only able to take a couple of steps before a hand grabs her arm and tugs her back. To no surprise at all, when she turns, she sees Natasha. The one silent since her arrival, but probably with the most to say. Katie jerks out of the woman's grasp.

"What's going on?" Natasha asks, and Katie shrugs her shoulders.

"Later, I will explain everything later." Katie says backing away from the woman. "Right now you need to get Vision completely off the grid. Keeping him alive and that stone safe is your mission Agent Romanoff." she glances back to Vision once more, trying to ignore that tension in her stomach. She'd felt it earlier, moments before leaving the ship. It was the stone. For some reason the connection they had to her was getting stronger, and leaving them was getting more and more unbearable. But she had to make sure they were safe. For some reason, she felt that was true with every fiber in her soul. She had to keep them safe, and she was failing. She knew it. She ignored the truth for so long and it gave Thanos the upper hand. Gave him a head start, and now he has two..no..wait! Katie's eyes widen, and she turns her back, and in an instant her feet is standing on debris, and now the stench of death and burnt flesh tickles her nostrils.

Katie stares wide eyed, her mouth agape as she watches a planet burn.

"Knowhere." she whispered. This was getting beyond bizarre because this was a place she distinctly remembers. She was here when she was pregnant. Plopped on Peter Quills' ship and forced to venture with him and his team of misfits. She spins around in search of life, but she doesn't see any. This was his trademark. This was what happens when Thanos leaves a planet. He destroys everything and leaves nothing behind. How does she know that? How does she know so much and yet nothing at all? She snaps her eyes shut and growls angrily though her teeth. The Reality Stone is gone. She felt it the moment her foot stepped on the planet. Why didn't she get the feeling? That feeling she had when Vision was in trouble? "What's the point of this?!" she screams, and her voice echos through the nothingness that surrounds her. She doesn't get a response. Only the sound of the crackling of flames as the planet literally crumbles in front of her eyes. "Why couldn't I stop this?!"

" _Is it sadness I sense in you, daughter?"_ A deep familiar voice speaks and Katie whips around, her eyes widening at the sight of Thanos and there standing in front of him is Gamora. Katie wants to take a moment to question what was happening, but then she realizes that no one notices her, even though she's just a couple of feet away.

"This is an echo." she mutters, unsure how she knows that either, but she does. This moment isn't happening, but has happened.

" _In my heart, I knew you still cared. But one never knows for sure. Reality is often disappointing."_ Thanos takes a step toward Gamora, giving her a glimpse of the new jewel in his gauntlet. Katie takes a step forward, frowning the moment she sees the Reality stone affixed in place on the glove.

" _You knew I would come."_ Gamora says, and Thanos seems to smirk at her words. He's amused that she thought she could surprise him.

" _I counted on it."_ Thanos replies. " _There's something we need to discuss, little one."_ Katie notices as Gamora's eyes glance over. Katie follows her eyes to a broken sword that the woman attempts to dive for it, but Thanos quickly grabs her by the back of the neck and swings her around in front of him.

" _Thanos!"_ Drax growls before running toward the monster who killed his family. Thanos simply lifts the glove, and with a pulse of the Reality Stone, both Drax just shatters into pieces as if he were blocks that were knocked down. Mantis takes a step, and Thanos does the same to her, her body becoming stretched as if she were a slinky.

Quill moves in, lifting his blaster right at Thanos.

" _Let her go, Grimace!"_ he orders.

"Stop!" Katie yells, and for some reason everything stops. All movement, all conversation just stops as if she'd just hit some sort of pause button. Katie took a deep breath before moving around, taking the place beside Quill. Her eyes lift to Thanos, and a chill creeps up her spine. He was every bit of the monster she dreamed of.

She stares at him for a moment, hoping to see something, a weakness, a point of attack they could use later, but she sees nothing. Why was she seeing this moment in particular? She asked herself the question over and over again, until she noticed something.

"Gamora," she says her eyes looking to the woman, and the grasp he held on her neck. "Why didn't he kill you? Why-" suddenly the scene begins to move rapidly as if someone had pressed fast-forward, and when it finally stops the blaster in Peter's hand is now pointed at Gamora, but his hand twitches.

" _Oh, daughter. You expect too much from him."_ Thanos looks amused toward Peter. _"She's asked, hasn't she? Do it."_ There is a pause as Peter's eyes go back to Gamora obviously fighting an internal battle with himself. Suddenly Thanos shoves Gamora forward, making Peter jump a bit. He was trying to egg the man on, clearly interested in if he truly had it in him. _"Do it!"_

Peter, with tears in his eyes, looks at Gamora.

_"I told you to go right."_

" _I love you, more than anything."_ she says, and in that moment you could see Quill's heart literally breaking.

" _I love you, too."_ he replies, before Quill screws his eyes shut and just pulls the trigger. Even Katie jumps expecting to witness a death, and yet instead of a laser, bubbles come out. Peter opens his eyes, and he stares in disbelief before looking up to Thanos whose still wearing that cocky smile.

" _I like you."_ Thanos says, and in the next moment he and Gamora teleport away. Quill stands there stunned for a moment before turning and picking up Gamora's sword, just as Drax and Mantis seem to re-assemble themselves.

Suddenly they disappear, and Katie is left standing there to take in what she saw, and figure out why she saw it.

"You needed Gamora alive." Katie mutters to herself. "Why did you—" It hits her, right there like a ton of bricks."The Soul stone." Katie lifts her eyes, turning, and appearing on yet another different place with a different smell. Actually a different kind of air seeps through her lungs as she spins around and looks to the purple tinted sky, and thick clouds that hung above her. She lifts her eyes as the specks of white particles fall from the sky, and they resemble falling snow. Katie opens her palm to catch some, but what falls to her hand isn't cold, or wet. This isn't snow. Katie turns, letting her eyes scan. The Soul stone is here. She can feel it, like it's some sort of homing beacon that's beeping in the distance. She begins walking, holding on to the connection and following it wherever it takes her. She doesn't expect for her steps to falter the moment she finds life...or even the exact opposite. There's a being standing in front of her, a hooded cloak covering his face.

"Welcome Katherine—" his voice echos off the mountains, and she feels the vibration on her skin. "Child of the cosmos." Katie doesn't know how to respond, as she looks around to see if there is anyone else on the planet, but there isn't. She suddenly knows this, suddenly knows who he is. She turns back to him with confusion, because it happened again. "I am-"

"The Stonekeeper." Katie says taking a step forward, hoping to get a peek under his hood. "I know who you are. How do I know who you are?" he suddenly touches down to the ground, and steps from the shadows finally revealing a face Katie had only seen in SHEILD files. "Red Skull."

"A name I no longer possess." he says stepping closer to the woman, his eyes raking over her, and it makes her uneasy. "You were meant to be here sooner, but you continued to run from the truth."

"And what truth is that?" she asks hoping for some insight. She felt like she was looking at everything through fogged glasses.

"The truth of who you are." the Red Skull says, leaning in a bit toward her, but she didn't recoil from his closeness. No, she stood firm, as he expected.

"And who am I?" she asked clearly frustrated with having to pull information she knows he's aware she wants.

"You are the first." he says his eyes searching hers, and the look on his face is an undeniable shade of awe. "And you shall be the last." his words touch something inside of her. They make her insides recoil and tighten, and it's as if something flicked inside of her. She takes a step back and turns her back to him. "You're refusing to see that the path you're traveling has already been written, and you know where it leads." Katie clenches her jaw and turned back to the stonekeeper.

"Give me the Stone!" she commands taking a step forward, and his unbothered by the move.

"You know I can't do that. That the Soul only appears to those who can provide it's sacrifice."

"I do know that, but I also know that if I call it, it will appear."

"And are you prepared for what would follow?" he asks, his blistering red skin, and dark eyes stare back at her. Katie never turns away from him, even as she lets his words sink in. She knows it's true. Knows that it's not the time now...but there will be. "Everything happens as they have destined them. Preventing the inevitable is—"

"What we do." Katie replies taking a step back. "We will fight even if we will lose." she turns away, because she knows what happens next. Thanos appears with Gamora, sacrifices' her because she is who he truly loves...but not more than power. It's why he will sacrifice her and be given the Soul stone. Leaving only Mind Stone, and Time Stone. "Why do I feel like I should be stopping this?" she turns back to Red Skull. "Why do I feel like I'm supposed to stop him and yet he's winning. He has the Stones and I could—" she closes her eyes, and she can seem them. Right now, this moment, she can see them in the gauntlet, and if she focused hard enough she could appear in front of Thanos right now, but she doesn't. She looks back to Red Skull who still stands there studying her. "What am I?" his earlier answer wasn't good enough. It didn't explain enough, it didn't fill the hole inside of her.

"You are the beginning." he simply says again. It's the only thing he's been instructed to say to the question. The only thing the stones will allow him to reveal at this moment. And him, being the servant that he was, could only comply. "And you shall be the last." she narrowed her eyes at him and just shook her head.

"Make sure you warn him about me when he comes." Katie says, and in an instant she's gone.

There's a frown transfixed on Natasha's face as she sits on the quinjet, her eyes staring over to Wanda who sits beside a weak Vision. Natasha doesn't seem to notice the moment Steve takes the seat beside her.

"Sam says we should be arriving at HQ in a few." Steve says. He doesn't get a response, and he turns to the woman beside him, and the far away look on her face. "Natasha?" she snaps out of her thoughts and turns back to the captain.

"Did you say something?" he looks at her for a moment, and he just knows what has her so deep in thought.

"You're thinking about Katie." Steve sighs letting his back fall back against the seat. He'd been thinking about her too, and the whole exchange and how none of it made sense, up into the moment she just disappeared. "Any luck making any sense of it?"

"No," Natasha sighs turning away from the man.

"I just don't understand. How was she able to—" Steve shakes his head. He hadn't seen her since she and Clint left from Wakanda that day. They were supposed to be in hiding. In his mind, he imagined it would work out for them. That they would find a life away from the craziness that came in the world they lived in. "Have you had any contact with Barton?" he turns to the woman who doesn't meet his gaze. "Natasha?"

"No," she says looking back over to the man. "Haven't spoken to him in two years." she turns away, hoping the lie was convincing.

"Do you have a way of contacting him?" Steve asks. "Maybe he could shed some light on what's going on with his wife." Natasha doesn't respond to the question, and Steve is sure she probably won't. He knows that even though they're no longer agents of SHEILD, that the loyalty between the Hawkeye and the Black Widow was something that couldn't be broken. "Well we need to know something. With what I think is coming, I'd like as many secrets out in the open as possible." soon they felt the jet lowering. Once fully landed, the door opened, and they all took in a breath. It had been a while since they most of them were there. A few never thought they would be back.

They all pile onto one of the elevators, and before anyone could press a button, it begins moving.

"Greetings, Captain Rogers, Ms. Romanoff, Mr. Wilson, Ms. Maximoff, and Vision." FRIDAY greets, and they all lift their heads. "Colonel Rhodes is in the conference room."

"Thanks FRIDAY," Natasha says looking over to Steve and just shrugging. She turns, when suddenly she has another question for the AI. "FRIDAY, do you know where Tony is?"

"I am unsure of Mr. Stark's current location. I went offline when he ventured too far into space. I tried to hold on for as long as I could, but the amount of power that was being utilized-"

"You lost power." Natasha said with a furrowed brow. "How are you here then?"

"Oh, Mrs. Barton restored my system to it's full capacity." FRIDAY replied just as the doors opened. No one moved for a moment, but Steve stalked out first, and then the other's followed. They heard the distant voices before they arrived.

Rhodes stood in the middle of the conference room, staring at the holographic image of Secretary Thaddeus Ross.

"Still no word on Vision?" Ross asked.

"Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh." Rhodes replied. This was the second call in two hours. He wasn't sure what the the Secretary expected to occur in those two hours, but he would humor him and give him his status report.

"On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals."

"You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir?" Rhodes asked, and Ross sneered.

"My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own." Ross said with a slight shake of his head.

"If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here."

"I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel."

"That's right." The bitterness in his tone completely obvious. "And I'm pretty sure I've paid for that." he glances down to the brace on his leg.

"You have second thoughts?" Ross asks, and Rhodes looks back up the Secretary and just shakes his head.

"Not anymore." Both turn when the "fugitives" as Ross has deemed them enter the room. Steve's eyes glance around for a moment looking for someone whose obviously not there. His eyes turned back to Ross. "Mr. Secretary."

"You got some nerve. I'll give you that!" Ross glares at Steve.

"You could use some of that right now." Natasha says looking over to the man who cuts his glare to her as well.

"The world's on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?" Ross replies. "I'm surprised Banks isn't here to rub it in my face that she was able to escape my prison. This changes nothing."

"I'm not looking for forgiveness." Steve says, and it was a new attitude the Captain had acquired. For so long he held a high level of respect for his commanding officers, and to some extent he still does. It's just now, after years in this new world he's learned that not everyone deserves that level of respect. "And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight." Steve takes a step toward the holograph, wanting the Secretary to see him, to pay attention and takes his next words with the utmost seriousness. "And if you wanna stand in our way... we'll fight you, too." the glare in Ross' eyes turn to Rhodes.

"Arrest them!" he orders, and Rhodes takes a step forward.

"All over it," Rhodes replies before swiping off the holograp. "That's a court-martial." he turns back to Steve. "It's great to see you, Cap." and the greeting is met with a hug.

"You too, Rhodey." Steve says. Rhodes turns to Natasha who he hugs as well.

"Well. You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years." Rhodes says looking between his friends. He really couldn't believe the time that has gone past since he last saw them.

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star." Sam joked.

"Uh, I think you look great." it was a new voice that spoke. A voice that they hadn't heard in quite some time. Their eyes turn to the other side of the room to see Bruce walk in. _"_ Uh... heh... Yeah. I'm back." the room is silent for a moment, because he was definitely a face they didn't expect to see. He'd been missing for years, and they had no idea where he could've been.

"Hey Bruce," Natasha says, and his eyes turn to her, and suddenly that thing they had. That small moment of something, was there and yet it wasn't.

"Nat." Bruce says, and he too isn't quite sure what to say to her. He doesn't even know how to begin a conversation to explain how he disappeared before they could even begin. He opened his mouth about to attempt a semblance of an explanation, but footsteps behind him caused him to turn, and he just shook his head. "Matt—" Matthew currently had his head tilted back with a potato chip bag to his lips as he let the last remnants of his chips fall in his mouth. He turned to Bruce's voice, suddenly aware of the newcomers, and he pulls the bag from his face, that's now covered in crumbs.

"I didn't hear the Secretary's voice, so I thought it was safe to enter." Matthew said looking between the faces of Steve, Natasha, Sam, Vision and Wanda. "It's been a long time."

"That it has." Steve says walking over to the man and holding out a hand. Matthew smiles before taking his hand, and pulling the man into a hug.

"I guess it's nothing like an alien attack to bring the band back together." Matthew says pulling from the hug and turning to Natasha. "Spider Ninja, you're blonde, and I love it." he says and despite herself she smiles before walking over to him and surprisingly giving him a hug as well.

"And you're not supposed to be here." Natasha says before pulling from the hug and looking up to the man. "She would've told you that." Matthew didn't say anything before turning back to Steve. "Where is she?" Matthew looks over to Bruce who shrugs.

"She's right here." their eyes turn. They all watch as Katie walks from the hall and into the room. She first turns to Vision, and he simply gives her a silent nod. It's his way of telling her he's ok, even though she knows it's a lie. Katie turns back to the awaiting eyes on her, and she sees the questions in their eyes, and in their expressions and she knows there's no more running. "We should talk."

Given who they were, and the things they've seen, it’s hard to believe the story told to them about a woman they've known, a woman they fought side by side with, who suddenly had unexplained abilities, and an unexplainable connection to the objects Thanos seeks. Katie's eyes study the sky out of the window of one of the offices. She'd finished her story, answered their questions as best she could. Questions she'd already asked herself.

" _Are you alright?_

" _How did this happen?_

" _When did you know?"_

"Where is Clint?" It was Steve's question that made her turn away. It was an expected question seeing as the last time many of them seen her, she was happily married, with an adorable daughter, and now she was someone else. "Katie?"

"I don't know." she replies turning back to Steve and shrugging her shoulders. They all saw the emotion that attempts to tug at her features, but she fights them. Buries them back in their box before taking a deep breath. "When this all started happening to me, when I needed to understand it, I—" she shook her head. She turned to Natasha, and the woman stared at her for a moment before turning away from her eyes. "The closer I got to the truth, the more dangerous I became. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that, and we have rule." she dropped her eyes, and swallowed that little bit of emotion she could never just bury. "Natalia and danger don't breathe the same air." she lifted her eyes to them. "So he took her, and he left. And he was right. It was for the best."

"Katie—" she turned to Steve and just shook her head.

"But right now, this moment, this is why I'm here." she says turning to Vision and nods. "Thanos has three infinity stones, and will soon have four." she bit the inside of her cheek trying not to show how the fact was tearing her up inside. "There's two more. One we have here, and one that's somewhere in space with Tony and Stephen."

"Stephen?" Sam asks, and she turns to him.

"Doctor Stephen Strange. He's—" she shakes her head. "He's my friend. I think. We never really put a title on what we were to each other. He found me, helped me find a direction. He was my compass in a way." she sighs. "But yeah, he and Tony, and Peter are going to attempt to bring the fight to Thanos before he makes it here."

"And how do you know that?" Steve asks, and Katie turns to him. They were too focused on her, and how she knew what she did, but right now that wasn't important.

"It's how you told us where to find Wanda and Vision." Natasha says, and Katie turns to her. "It's the stones." Katie simply gives a nod.

"Stephen Strange is the protector of the Time stone. He has it, and wherever he and that stone are, I can find it and go to him." more questions were written over their faces and she shook her head. "How, why, who, what, when, where, none of it matters right now."

"If he has three of these stones, and you can find them wherever they are-" it was Matthew who asked the question. She turns to her brother wondering if one of them would ask her the question.

"Yes, I could hoodini myself in front Thanos right now, and I would if I had a next move. Right now my abilities are limited to the whole mystical transportation, and my weird neurological GPS with these infinity stones. I don't know how to beat him, I don't know how I would take the stones back." well that was a lie, but the truth would bring about more questions. "Right now, all I know is that while Tony, Strange and Peter come at this with offense, we are going to have to be defense."

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodes asked, and Katie was glad he was bringing the focus back to the fight.

"And they can clearly find us." Wanda adds.

"We need all hands on deck." Bruce says looking around. "Who else can we get?" no one said a word.

"Well there's Scott, but after the whole Accords situation, he took a deal. It was too tough on his family, he's on house arrest." Natasha says, and Bruce looks totally confused.

"Who's Scott?" he asks.

"Ant-Man." Steve replies and Bruce turns to him with more confusion.

"There's an Ant-Man _and_ a Spider-Man?" Bruce says realizing his time away has caused him to miss so much. "Okay, look…Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he...he gets...Vision's Stone." they turn to Vision who stands by the glass door that leads outside.

"Well then, we have to protect it." Natasha says as if it was simple.

"No, we have to destroy it." Vision turns to them but then his eyes turned to Katie and he sees the look in her eyes and know she's the one he really has to convince. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps… its molecular integrity could fail." he turns to Wanda and sees the look in her eyes, and sees that his explanation isn't going to stop her opposition.

"And you, with it." Wanda says as Vision walks over to her and places his hands on the sides of her face. "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

"That's too high a price." Wanda replies.

"Only you have the power to pay it." Vision says and Wanda pulls away from him and walks away. "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should." Steve says, and he looks up to Vision. _"_ We don't trade lives, Vision." Vision walks over to him.

"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision asks, and Steve pauses for a moment, but takes a breath about to answer.

"The situation is different." Katie says and Vision turns to her. "Because destroying the stone would cause a fate worse than whatever Thanos has planned."

"You don't know that." Vision says and Katie looks at him with a scoff, because of everyone in this room, he should know that she does know what she's talking about.

"You might have a choice." Bruce says walking over to Vision. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. J.A.R.V.I.S., Ultron, Tony, Katie, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another.

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asks, and Bruce turns to her.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

"Can we do that?" Natasha asks, and Bruce's eyes turn to Katie who looks right back to him. They turn to her and she bites the corner of her lip as she turns from Bruce to Vision. She walks over to the being, her eyes looking from his eyes to the Mind Stone. Her eyes tilt to the side, and for a moment she loses herself. It's the stone. And it's strange because it's like it's speaking to her. When she drops her eyes back to Vision she stands up straight before turning back to Bruce.

"Way beyond my skill set." she says with a shrug.

"Mine too." Bruce says.

"You better find someone, and somewhere fast. Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back." Rhodes replies, and the room falls silent until Steve speaks.

"I know somewhere." they all turn to him. "A place that may have the skill set we're looking for. I have to make a call, and then wheels up in thirty." he says and without another word, he hurries from the room. Katie turns back to Vision, and places a hand on his arm.

"Let's exhaust all of our options before we hop on the lets sacrifice Vision train." she says with a smile before turning and heading for the door. Before she left, she stopped and turned to Matthew who glanced over to her before turning away. She walked over to him, and placed herself right in front of him. "I told you to play this one safe."

"Yeah, well maybe I didn't want to play it safe." he replied looking down to her. "And good thing I didn't, because if I did, I probably wouldn't have found out that you're some kind of infinity stone jedi or something." she shook her head turning away. "Rinny," she turned back to him. "Are you alright?" It was the second time he asked the question. Honestly despite all the craziness she explained to them, that question was the one he wanted answered the most. He didn't quite believe her earlier response about being fine. Katie placed a hand on her brother's cheek.

"I'm fine Mattie," she replied with a small smile. "I'm going to be even better when you get in your car and drive to the nice safe offices of the CIA." he smiled and placed a kiss to her forehead. She always hated when he did it, because it was a constant reminder that even though she was older, he was the taller one.

"Oh, not on your life Rinny. You see I don't believe you. You're still hiding something, and I just get the feeling that you need someone there to make sure you don't do something stupid."

"And that person's you?"

"Well obviously." he replies, and she chuckles lightly.

"I need some air." she replies before walking around him. Matthew turned watching her as she disappeared into the hall. He frowned as he remembers the story from Martin, and how he didn't quite believe it until this moment. Matthew pulled out his cell phone and decided it was time he had another chat with Mr. Chambers.

She finds herself alone on the balcony of the office just across from the one she was just in. But this moment, she was alone, with a bit of silence she really needed. But that silence and solitude wouldn't last long.

"I have nothing to say to you." Katie spoke, and soon Natasha walked over, and leaned a bit over the railing to look out to the compound.

"Yeah, well you're hiding something."

"I'm not the only one." Katie says turning to the woman who brings her eyes to Katie as well. "When did he call you?" Natasha doesn't say anything. "Bart, when did he call you and tell you that he left me?" still no response. "Oh, I get it. You're partners. You're the Widow, Hawkeye dynamic duo. Of course you won't say anything." Katie shakes her head before turning to leave.

"You think he left you because he thought you were dangerous." Natasha says knowing she shouldn't. It was one phone call from Clint. Just a few days ago. She thinks he was a bit drunk. But he was more than a bit sad, angry, and lost. Katie heard her and stopped, glancing back to the woman who didn't turn to her.

"Well it's what he told me. And then he packed up his things and he took my daughter." Katie turned away from the woman. "Didn't even let me say goodbye." Natasha glanced back to the woman who turned meeting her eyes. "I really don't care what his reasons are. I'll never forgive him for doing the one thing he promised me he wouldn't." Katie shook her head before glancing down to her clothes. "I'm going to get cleaned up and changed. It shouldn't take me long." and with that Katie turned and walked away.

Natasha lets out a deep breath before pulling out her cell phone. This wasn't the moment she was supposed to call him. He gave her specific qualifications she should meet to press this button, and none of them had been met, and yet she remembers that phone call. How defeated he sounded, and how the only thing he wanted was to know that his wife was safe. Her finger hovered over his name, unsure if she should help him breathe a bit easier.

Clint's eyes were fixed on the target painted on the tree in front if him. The arrow was pressed against the bow, his breathing momentarily slowed. After a moment, he released the arrow, and watched as it punctured the tree just an inch outside the bullseye.

"Nice shot." a voice spoke, but Clint didn't turn to her. He'd left the house in an effort to get away from her and her husband. Clint didn't say anything, and Cynthia sighed. "Clint, I know—"

"You don't know anything." he says, still refusing to turn to her. It was her face. He couldn't just look at her face, because when he did, he saw his wife. And he was reminded of what he did, and how he questioned it everyday since he left. "And that shot—" he pointed to the arrow that protruded from the tree. "Is bullshit." he turned and stalked toward the house. He stopped half way there when he felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and saw Natasha's name, and he felt his heart stop beating. He dropped his bow and quickly answered his phone.

"Nat? Is she—"

"No." Nat quickly answered and Clint let out a relieved sigh.

"Nat, you're not supposed to call this number. I told you—"

"I know what you told me. If your wife finds herself in serious danger, call you so you can swoop in to save her. I know." Natasha said.

"Then why are you calling me."

"Because I'm at the Avengers compound and so is your wife." Natasha replied and Clint's eyes widen as he turned to Cynthia who stood watching him in confusion.

"Kat's there?" he asks and Cynthia takes a step forward.

"Yeah, she is and she had a hell of a story to tell everyone." Natasha says. "One I think you may know more about than I do."

"So she's alright? She's safe."

"Right now she's here, she’s safe. Or as safe as any of us are right now."

"What does that mean?" and Natasha doesn't say anything. The last time they spoke he mentioned a moment like this. When there was a fight happening, a battle that could possibly put the universe in the balance. A fight that if he knew about it, he'd feel obligated to help. He told her that if that ever happened, that she wasn't supposed to tell him. That if the world was truly in peril, that she and rest of the team would fight the good fight and win. And he'd stay with his daughter and not feel guilty.

"It's nothing, look—" she cleared her throat. "She knows I've spoken to you." she heard him sigh. "I didn't tell her, but you know her. She's one of a few people who can read me a bit."

"What did she say?" Clint asked, and Natasha didn't say anything at first. "Nat, just tell me."

"She said she won't forgive for leaving. For taking Tai, and not even giving her the chance to say goodbye. She said you did the one thing you promised her you wouldn't." Clint closed his eyes and dropped his head. He expected the reaction. Anticipated it even, and yet knowing it just hit him unexpectedly. He turned and dropped down to sit in the steps of the porch. "Barton, can you just tell me why?" Clint didn't say anything for a moment and for a moment she thought he had hung up. "Barton?"

"Nat, keep an eye on my wife. Make sure—" he felt a sudden surge of emotion that planted itself in his throat. "Make sure she sticks around long enough for me to beg for her forgiveness." he ended the call, and dropped his face in his palms.

"Clint-"

Oh, Clint really didn't need to hear Cynthia's voice right now. He heard the audible squeak of the screen door opening followed by the heavy footsteps of Martin.

"Everything alright?" Martin asked, and Cynthia looked up to him.

"She's safe." Cynthia says. "He got a call from Romanoff, and Katherine is with her and their team." Martin lets out a relieved breath. They'd gone out of their mind with worry over not knowing what was happening with their daughter. Clint shook his head before standing to his feet and stalking away.

"Clint!" Martin called after the man. "I know you're having doubts, but you know deep down that this was what needed to happen." Clint stopped walking and turned around to his parents in law, and couldn't help but think that if they never showed up that day, if they never told him this out of the world story, and never showed him that picture, he'd be with his wife right now. She wouldn't be alone, and she wouldn't think that he would ever leave her.

"You told me my wife has a great destiny. That I believed. That I knew after a week knowing her." Clint says. "You told me my wife was special, but I figured that out after about a couple of months of working with her and the entire length of our marriage." he took a step forward. "You told me my wife was the creation of powers beyond the realm of belief, and you know I believed that too, because that woman—" Clint shook his head, as the emotion was starting to spread throughout his body. "That woman was beyond my realm of belief, but she found me, and I fell in love with her, and she fell in love with me, and we were happy. We were wanted fugitives on the run with our daughter, but were happy." he looked between the couple and sighed. "You told me that I had to leave my wife, and take my daughter, because if we stayed the entire universe would suffer. That was the part where I thought you were crazy. That's the part where I should've kicked you out of my house." he turned away from them.

"But you didn't, because you knew. Deep down somewhere you knew there was something about her. Something you just couldn't explain. How does she get tangled with aliens, or Norse gods? How does she end up going to Asgard?" Clint turned as he listened to Cynthia's words. They were questions he'd asked himself so many times. "How is she the one who finds a mild mannered doctor who also secretly harbors a giant green rage monster inside of him? How did she become the invisible link that unknowingly brought a team of superheroes together?" Cynthia placed herself right in front of her son in law and she could see the pain in his eyes he desperately wanted to hide. "It was destined from the beginning. I thought—" she dropped her head. "It was impossible, that I was just in the middle of this random field, trying to see a rare meteor shower. I didn't expect—" she looked back over to Clint and his eyes were still on her. "I thought I was dreaming when I saw a bright white light flying from the sky and heading right toward me. I should've ran for help, or even just to save my life, but I didn't."

"You have to understand how unbelievable this is right?" Clint asked as he looked between Cynthia and Martin. "This woman is my life, and I left her, and now she hates me because I broke a promise I vowed I would keep."

"Then why did you leave, son?" Martin asked and Clint turned to him for a moment before turning away. "Trust me, I was standing where you are just a couple of months ago. She was my baby girl. She was the best part of me, and deep down I always knew there was something special about her." Clint turned back to the man who took a step forward. "I saw it in how quickly she learned self defense, how naturally she picked up weaponry."

"I thought it was a dream." Cynthia said again with a shake of her head as she went back to that moment. "One minute I was watching a meteor shower, and the next, I'm lying flat on my back as some kind of being hidden by a bright white light stands above me. It said that I had been chosen to bear the protector."

"Protector of what?" Clint asked.

"I don't know. I never got a chance to ask it. I couldn't really speak. I just remember one moment I’m watching this thing, and then the next moment I waking up in the SHIELD infirmary with test results saying I was pregnant." she looked over to Martin who reached forward and took her hand. "The entire encounter was bizarre so I truly thought I'd just passed out and had some weird dream...until the day she was born." Clint lifted his head toward the house, his ears picking up the faint sound of his daughter's voice calling out for him. Clint looked back to the couple before stalking back toward the house.

When he walked inside, he found Natalia standing up in her play pen awake from her nap.

"Dah," she whined, and he picked her up into his arms and she simply laid her head on his chest still a bit tired. Her eyes closed as she grabbed a small fist of his shirt as if to prevent him from leaving her again. Clint sighed, placing a kiss to the top of her head before heading up the stairs to his room. The little girl had fallen back asleep before they even reached the room. Clint walked inside, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, his arms still firmly around his daughter. At this point, she was the only thing keeping his head from exploding right now. The only thing keeping him from going totally crazy. He glanced over to the desk near the window, and he stood to his feet and walked over and looked down to the photos splayed across it. He picked up one with his free hand, and once again analyzed it as best he could. He'd seen the type of doctored photos that came out of SHIELD, saw how they could get anyone to believe anything with a carefully altered photo. Maybe the picture in this hand was fake, even though his gut was telling him that it wasn't. This single photo was the reason he left his wife. Why he believed that he needed to leave for her to accept who she was meant to be, and be this protector she apparently was. Clint couldn't tear his eyes from the picture. Still not quite able to believe what he was seeing. The sight of a little baby girl, crying as an ominous glow emits from her skin at the place of her heart as if there was a tiny flashlight inside of her.

"This is your mommy, bud," Clint whispered to his sleeping daughter. "Apparently, she's important to more than just us."

Katie's breath hitched the moment she felt Thanos' hand touch the Soul stone. She stumbled back a bit the moment she felt it being implanted with the other stones into the gauntlet. The power that emitted blew into her face, and she sighed and dropped her head.

"Hey," a hand touched her shoulder, and when she turned she saw the concerned face of Steve. "You alright?" she wanted to tell the truth, but at the moment they were all looking at her as if she were a bomb, and so she decided to lie.

"I'm good," she replied, she saw the crease in his forehead. "Are we ready to go?" she began walking around him, back inside the building.

"You know I see you." Steve said suddenly, and Katie stopped and turned back to him. "I've known you for quite some time, and I think it's getting easier to pin point your tells." he looked over to her. "I'm sorry about what happened with Clint, I know—"

"I don't want to talk about that." she said with a shake of her head as she dragged her fingers through her hair. "I literally am physically incapable of having that conversation right now, because I'd die." she turned back to Steve and he saw that flash of pain. "There's a crazy alien whose going to do some very bad things if we don't stop him. He has another stone, so that means all that's left is the Mind Stone and the Time stone." she turned once again to head inside.

"How does this end?" he asks suddenly and Katie stops, but doesn't turn to him. "It’s just, even after your explanation, I'm not quite sure what's happening with you, and I'm worried." she finally turned back to him. "Because I have a bad feeling, and I'm trying to ignore it, and to have hope and keep the strength to keep going, but I'm really worried." he walked over to her, placing himself right in front of her so she could see the seriousness in his eyes. "Back in Scotland, those two aliens, when they saw you, they paused. They stopped trying to get the stone from Vision because they saw you and then they left." Katie didn't say anything because she knew that the truth was once again not the best option in this situation. Not with Steve. She knew what his reaction would be to the truth. "How does this all end?" he asked once again, and she lightly smiled.

"We either win or we lose, but do you know how we do it?"

"Together." Steve said and Katie gave a nod.

"Exactly." she nudged her head back to the building. "We should—"

"I can't lead a team when my soldiers have their own missions I'm not aware of. I need to know when I should be watching your back." Katie smiled before taking a step forward and bringing her arms around the man in a hug that he returns. "Katie?"

"Do you remember the day we met?" she asked, her cheek pressed against his chest not ready to pull from the hug yet.

"I think it was a day I will never forget. I stopped a mugger, and then we went out for pizza, but we were being followed. You grabbed some guy off the street and gave him a pretty hard jab to the gut." Steve chuckled at the memory.

"That part was entertaining, but I meant the moment when I realized who you were and why SHIELD had sent me to find you."

"You were supposed to be a SHIELD promoter, but you were the opposite. You were the first person I'd met since waking up that I actually believed."

"Helping find you was my first official job when I started with SHEILD. Then seeing you in that park that day, I just—" she pulled back from the hug and looked up to him. "I remembered."

"What?"

"Sometimes good things can come out of a crappy situation even when you don't know it at the time." she took a step back. "We win or we lose. Together, that's how this ends." she gave him a nudge to his shoulder. "And grow beards." she chuckled before turning and heading back inside. It didn't get pass him that she was evading the truth, which only made him more nervous, but he'd keep an eye on her.

"Do you like it?!" He asked as he followed after her, and she glanced over her shoulder to him.

"You'll blush if I answer that question, Captain." she said with a laugh.

He couldn't shake the image. Thanos stood on the edge of the cliff glancing down to the fallen body of his daughter. Then suddenly he's lying in a pond of water, the Soul stone now in his hand. He holds it above his gauntlet, and watch as it finds it's place. He lifted his gauntlet, admiring the new stone now affixed in it's place. Soon he'd have them all, and no being on this planet will be more powerful than him. There was no time to pause, to grieve or doubt and so he stood and headed for his ship.

"Have you heard the saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely?" the Stonekeeper asks and Thanos stops and glances over to him.

"You are a pet." Thanos sneers. "And I don't have time to talk philosophy with pets." he turned once again.

"I am to deliver a warning." The Stonekeeper said, but Thanos never stopped walking. "Ego is here." Thanos only chuckles at the words.

"I know. I'll be seeing her real soon."


	13. Chapter 13

" _You are the first, and you shall be the last."_

The words had twisted themselves around every bit of sanity she had. They were vague, and yet Katie couldn't shake the feeling that they were the most clearest answer she'd ever gotten. She just wasn't seeing it.

" _The world is beyond logic, and the moment you realize that, the moment you immerse yourself in that possibility will be the moment you are no longer blind to what is actually coming."_

Stephen was right. She was being blind, and she thinks it was purposeful. She is afraid of the truth. Afraid of the future. Afraid of the road that would lead to the end.

At the moment, she wasn't moving. She sat beside Matthew on a quinjet as they headed to Wakanda. Steve's idea was that the scientists of Wakanda may be able to safely extract the stone from Vision without killing him.

_"It won't work."_

Katie's eyes tightened shut. The voice was one of many whispers that forced themselves into her head recently. She tried to ignore them, to pretend that they weren't real. Before her entire world was shaken, before she realized that she was something or someone else, she would've assumed that she was going crazy. Maybe she was.

Natasha couldn't help the lingering gaze on the woman sitting across from her. The unknowns of Katie's part in all of this, the unbelievable story of her connection to the infinity stones. Her history with Katie was confusing in her opinion. There was something about the woman that annoyed her. The brain who had a knack for hand to hand combat. To Natasha, Katie was an enigma. A smart mouthed, know it all enigma. And yet the woman had gotten under her skin. Had somehow, someway become a person Natasha cared for. In some sick and twisted way, Natasha would imagine that Katie was the closest thing she had to a sister.

"You're staring." Katie said, not bothering to open her eyes. Natasha turned her gaze fully to the woman. "Why are you staring?"

"Make this make sense." Natasha said simply and Katie snapped opened her eyes and looked over to the woman. "You've told stories before, stories that always have a minuscule chance of being believable. But this—" Natasha shook her head. "I can't see even an ounce of this being true."

"You think I'm lying."

"I think you're not being completely honest. I think there's a part of all of this that you haven't told us." Katie didn't say anything, and Natasha continued to stare. "I remember when you were just a name in a file. You were a person of interest Barton and Coulson were sent to retrieve. Absolutely nothing in that file even gave a hint that you were—"

"More than just a name in a file?" Katie asked sitting up a bit more. "Honestly, I don't think SHIELD knew either, and if they did, I doubt it would be in any file your eyes saw." Natasha pursed her lips as she sat back in her seat, still studying the woman across from her. "I can't make this make sense, because it just doesn't." Katie turned away, her eyes looking over to her brother who seemed to have fallen asleep.

"You don't know the full story with Barton." Natasha said, and Katie let out a sigh as she turned back to her. "I can't say more, because I don't really know more, but what I do know is that he loves you, and that his leaving was—" Katie's eyes turned away, and she suddenly frowned. "Sparrow?" Natasha was about to stand to her feet, but in a blink of an eye the woman was gone.

"What the hell?!" Rhodes had been sitting beside Natasha, and was able to see the woman across from them just disappear in the blink of an eye. His wide eyes glanced around the plane before turning to Natasha. "Where did she just—could she always do that?" Natasha glanced over to him before turning to look up to Steve's eyes from his spot in the co-pilot's seat.

The moment Katie appeared back on the ship, she had to duck at the sudden falling debris. When she jumped out of the way, she spun around her eyes wide at a very unexpected sight.

"Alright, everybody, stay where you are... chill the F out." Quill says before reaching up and pressing a button to remove his helmet. "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where's Gamora?" Katie took a step forward able to see Quill's arm wrapped around Peter's neck, a gun to his head. Tony soon removed his helmet as well, glaring over to the man.

"Yeah, I'll do you one better. Who's Gamora?" Tony asked

"I'll do you one better! Why is Gamora?!" Drax yelled, and they all turned to him as he laid trapped under the foot of Tony's suit. Katie frowned as she moved in closer.

"Tell me where the girl is, or I swear to you, I'm gonna French-fry this little freak." Quill snapped glancing down to Spider-man.

"Let's do it! You shoot my guy, I blast him. Let's go!" Tony replies as he suddenly extends his nano-tech canon which look uncannily like an electric shark about to eat Drax's face.

"Do it, Quill! I can take it." Drax says staring up to the cracks of electricity above his face.

"No, he can't take it!" Mantis calls still trying to pull free from the webs trapping her at the moment.

"She's right. You can't." Stephen adds in annoyance. He lifts his head, turning and being the first person to see Katie. "Let me guess, you know what's going on here?" they turned to the man before following his eyes as Katie walked closer. She moved to stand in front of Quill who seemed to be staring in bewilderment at the woman he assumed was dead.

"I thought you were dead." he muttered.

"And I thought you were a dream." she replied before looking down to Spider-man and sighing before turning back to Quill. "Gamora isn't here. They're not Thanos' minions, and I really need you to drop that gun right now, or I will have to hurt you." Quill looked back to the woman in confusion.

"Kitten, you mind telling us what's going on?" Tony asked, blaster still out and ready. Katie looked back over to him and held up a finger for him to give her a minute. She turned back to Quill.

"I know what happened to Gamora. I know what Thanos did." she says and from the way his jaw clenched, she knew he was struck by the memory once again. "I can't imagine the pain you're feeling, but what I can assure you is that we want the exact same thing you want. Thanos dead." he looked at her for a moment longer. The woman he barely believed existed. "Drop the gun please." Soon Quill lowered his weapon, and Katie turned to Tony and he simply looked back to her. "You too." he let out a huff before lowering his canon. "Awesome—" she turned back to Quill. "Peter Quill, meet Peter Parker." the two Peters turned to each other and simply nodded. "This is Tony—" she turned back to the man who still held suspicions on his face. "And still lying on the floor is Drax. Stand up Drax." he looked over to her for a moment before turning to Tony and cautiously stood to his feet. "And over there we have Doctor Stephen Strange. Stephen, that is Mantis, and now we all know each other!" she let out a sigh as she turned to the eyes on her. "We are all on the same side of this fight. Quill and his team and the Avengers."

"Avengers?" Mantis said. "You're the team Thor told us about." they all turned to her.

"Thor? You know Thor?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good-looking," Quill gives a slight shake of his head. "needed saving."

"Where is he now?" Stephen asked in annoyance.

"Nivadellir." Katie says turning away slightly. She clenches her eyes shut, a sudden sharp pain dragging across the back of her head and she groans.

"Hey," Tony the closest to her, turns to her fully about to extract himself from his suit, but she opens her eyes and just shakes her head.

"I'm fine."

"It didn't look like you were fine." Tony said and she just shakes her head as she takes a step back. "What the hell is going on?"

"The world needs saving Tony, and you just got a couple of more players on your team." she turns and walking over to Quill. "You weren't going to win this fight with just the three of you—"

"We would've—"

"That wasn't a question. Starlord, you and your team are going to work with the Avengers to help put an end to Thanos. You're going to work together." he still watched the woman curiously, still finding it hard to believe that she was standing right here in front of him. She turned and took in a deep breath. "I have to go. Thanos isn't here yet, so there's still time to strategize and come up with a plan." she looks over to Tony and gives him a nod.

"You know I would very much like you to stay right now." Tony says and she gives him a smile before walking over to him. "Something is going on with you. Something you're not saying." He looks at her, with the sudden familiar feeling in his gut that every time she leaves, it will be the last time he sees her. She glances over to Stephen who seems to be mirroring the look of concern. She turns back to Tony and placed a hand on his cheek.

"We all have our parts in this fight Mr. Stark and I have to make sure everyone finds their part. I'll see you soon." and without another word she was just gone, and Tony's eyes widened even after seeing her leave like that a few times already. It was still just unexpected.

Katie appeared at the base of the steps of a school she didn't expect to be standing in front of. With a deep breath she walked up the steps about to ring the door bell when suddenly the door pulled open. She peeked inside, but there was no one there, and so she simply stepped inside.

The mansion was still warm, still so inviting, and if she were honest, she'd say she really didn't want to leave, but there was a fight happening, and she finally realized there were more soldiers for her to draft. She walked further inside, curious as to why no one seemed to be around. Katie cautiously walked down the hallway, only stopped when she appeared to a familiar wall. She stood there for a moment, glancing down either side of the hall in hopes of seeing someone. There was no one there, and so Katie stepped forward, and placed a hand on the wall, and watched as it moved and a key panel appeared. It had been years, and yet the four digit code was still locked in the brain of the woman who bled numbers. Katie reached forward, and typed in the code, and soon the wall opened completely revealing the elevator. This time there was no hesitation as Katie stepped inside.

The ride was silent, and Katie closed her eyes trying to soak up these few moment of peace. Soon she heard the swooshing sound of the elevator opening, and so she opened her eyes to see the smiling face of Scott Summers.

"You look like you're expecting me, Scott?" Katie asked as the man took a step to the side to let her step of the elevator. "I guess the professor knew I was coming."

"I did." a voice spoke, and Katie turned to see Xavier himself, a smile on his face as he wheeled himself toward her. "I thought you'd be here sooner though."

"Well I thought I wouldn't need your help. I didn't think this was going to get so out of control, and now it has and—" she exhaled deeply.

"Hey," Scott said placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" There was that question again. That question she couldn't answer honestly, and so she pulled on a smile and just nodded before turning back to he professor.

"The world needs the X-men." she finally said. The sound of sliding door behind them, made Katie turn and that's when she saw Logan, Ororo, and Jean all dressed in suits, large X's on their chest.

"We know." the Professor said and Katie turned back to him. "We were waiting for you to tell us where." Katie smiled down to the man before turning back to the others who continued to watch her.

"Right, you have a plane right?" she asked.

Soon she stood in the hanger looking up to the X-Jet as the team filed inside. There was someone standing behind her, and so she sighed before looking up to the eyes of Logan.

"There's something different about you." he said, and she let out a heavy sigh.

"That's an understatement." she replied with a tired smile.

"You alright?"

"I'm tired, and I'm a little scared."

"You don't think we can beat this Thanos guy?" Logan asked and Katie just shook her head.

"No, I think we can beat him. There's just going to be a cost if all this doesn't work." she turned to look back to the others who walked over to her.

"We're set to go. We just need the coordinates." Scott said, and Katie smiled.

"No, you don't need any coordinates." she replied. "Just start flying, and you will get to where you're needed." Scott looked over to her in confusion. "Trust me." the man glanced over to the professor who gave a nod. Katie turned to the professor as well. "I actually have to get going." she turned back to the team and gave them a smile. "I want to thank you all for doing this."

"No need to thank us kid, this is what we do." Logan says and Katie turns to him and gives him a nod and he can't explain it, but there's something about her eyes. Something she's not saying and it's worrying him for some reason.

"Well I will see you all soon." she turned and began walking back into the mansion, and she didn't miss the heavy footsteps behind her. She's stopped in front of the elevator before turning to Logan and just shaking her head.

"So not the best time, Logan. I'm fine." she says reaching forward and pressing the button for the elevator. "You should be going with the others."

"I will, but there's something different about you." he replies again and Katie turns to him with a furrowed brow wondering if his freaky nose was able to detect her secret. Suddenly the doors opened and Katie stepped inside before turning back to the man.

"You're right, there is." she replies with a smile. "And one day I might tell you about it, but now, there's a war to be fought, and I think we could use a Wolverine." she gave the man a wink before taking a step back as the doors closed.

Katie closed her eyes because it was strange how her choices were no longer her own. She has no idea why she came to this mansion, and yet she did and she asked the X-men for help even though she would've wanted to keep them out of this fight. Deep down she knew what was happening. She knew who was in control now and it most certainly wasn't her. Maybe all of this was about helping her change the inevitable...or maybe it was to prove that nothing could change the inevitable. There was a sudden thought, and in an instant Katie found herself standing on the cold dusty ground of a new planet.

Nivadellir. There was no infinity stone here, nothing that tethered her to this planet, and yet Katie found herself standing in the dark, dusty gigantic cluttered space.

"Damnit!" a voice yells.

"Damnit? What damnit?" a voice says and Katie turns because she knows that voice.

"I am Groot."

"What do you mean she's here?" Rocket asks and before he knows it, he hears a thump from inside the pod. He turns and his tiny eyes go wide at the sight of the woman he thought was a total, and complete alcohol induced hallucination. "You're—" for the first time today, Rocket the Raccoon was speechless. "not dead."

"I am not." Katie says turning, and crouching in front of Groot who smiled widely. "You're getting so big."

"I am Groot." he announced proudly and Katie just chuckled.

"Well thank you for looking out for him." she stood to her feet and walked over to view port as she looked out to see Thor who was standing just outside the pod. "He lost his hammer." she frowned turning away a bit. "His sister and—" memories and moments she wasn't even present for flooded her, and then they stopped. "Loki?" she turned back to look out the view port with wide eyes.

"The mechanism is crippled." a voice spoke, and they all turned.

"Eitri," Katie muttered and Rocket turned to her with a furrowed brow, but didn't say anything.

"What?" Thor asked, still unaware of the woman standing just behind him. He turned listening to Eitri who didn't sound optimistic about his weapon.

"With the iris closed I can't heat the metal."

"How long will it take to heat?" Thor asked, and Katie's eyes glanced up past the man to the broken contraption in front of the star.

"A few minutes, maybe more. Why?"

Thor stood to his feet on the Hull. "I'm gonna hold it open."

"Of course he is." Katie muttered and in a blink of eye she appeared next to the man on the hull and the moment his eyes met her, he became speechless. "Hey, so I hear you're trying to get yourself killed."

"Lady Katherine," Thor finally spoke and Katie lightly laughed. She hadn't heard the name in so long, and it was nice to hear. A smile came to his face as he took a step forward, and suddenly engulfed the woman into a tight hug. "How are you here right now?

"That is a very good question, buddy." Katie said hugging him back just as tight. "But I think you already know." Thor froze at her words, when suddenly he remembered his vision...the impossibility and he pulled back to look at the woman.

"You're—"

"I'm me. Just a little bit different." she replied before turning and looking up to the contraption. "So you need to hold that open, so the star will veer through to create your ax?" she turned to Thor who gave a nod, and she bit the corner of her lip in thought. "Ok." she said turning back to he Asgardian.

"Ok!" Eitri called and she glanced over to him finally seeing him standing just a bit away inside of the main forge. "That's suicide." Katie turned back to Thor and just gave him a smile.

"Get your ax buddy, and I'll see you out there." she replied about to turn away, but then she stopped and walked back over to him. "I almost forgot—" she grabbed the material of his shirt and pulled him toward her. "Always remember that you are never alone and nothing is ever as it seems. Mischief is always in the air if you look close enough." and with that she placed a kiss to his cheek before turning and in an instant she was just gone leaving Thor with a mixture of emotions he wasn't completely sure how to handle.

"So is she like an alien too, because that would make so much sense." Rocket said, and Thor seemed to pull himself from the myriad of emotions to focus on the matter at hand. He turns and without a second thought he leaps from the pod to the star's iris.

Clint stood in the backyard of this farmhouse that sat in the complete middle of nowhere, and he couldn't help the tug on his heart to turn around and go find his wife. He closed his eyes, and let out a heavy sigh trying to release the tension and the anxiety. When he heard the sound of crackling leaves, he assumed it was one of his inlaws whom he most certainly didn't want to talk with.

"Just go away, I'm really not in the mood for anymore heart to hearts." he said not even bothering to turn around. He kept his eyes trained on the lake watching the ripples of the waves as the wind breezed.

"Neither am I." Clint lifted his head at the voice almost certain he was hallucinating. He took in a deep breath before turning around, and when he saw her he felt his heart feel so heavy. "Hey Bart." he didn't speak, he actually couldn't speak for a variety of reasons. One he felt as if he hadn't seen her in ages when in reality it had only been a couple of months which was still too damn long. Two he felt that the first words out of his mouth needed to be the right words. The words he could say to explain everything he's done and she would believe and for the life of him at this moment he didn't. And three, well his wife had always had a knack for just making him speechless and right now was no different. She looked slightly different since he last saw her. Her hair was longer yeah, and she looked as if she's lost a bit of weight, but that wasn't it. He took a step forward, and he was glad she didn't back away. She was watching him too, and he could tell she was taking in this moment as well. He needed to say something, anything to fill this growing silence and so he said the first words that came to mind.

"I'm sorry." he said, and though it wasn't much it was honestly the truth. "Kat, I—" he took another step forward, and she didn't back away. "I can't even—" he shook his head because he imagined this moment so many times, and even then he didn't know what he would say. He just hoped that in the moment the words would come to him and he was realizing they just weren't. "I thought—" he looked up meeting her eyes and she just looked at him, not in anger or in sadness, but just looked at him with those eyes he'd dreamed of every night since he was away from her. "Kat—" she walked over to him, closing the distance, placing herself right in front of him and he couldn't help himself. He brought his arms around her, pulling her body to his, reveling in the feeling. Being away from her, not being able to touch her for so long was torture, and he didn't really feel it until this moment. He didn't really understand, or feel that hole in his heart until this moment she appeared and made him whole again. "I'm sorry." she still didn't say anything before she dropped her head to his chest, closing her eyes. Clint's grasp around her tightened. They stood there in that silent embrace for what felt like a small eternity before the silence was broken.

"Every second, of every minute to every hour that has lead to this moment was meant to be." Katie said, never opening her eyes, never lifting her head from Clint's chest. "You had to leave Bart. I didn't understand that at first. I was angry with you, and with myself because I thought I ruined us."

"Kat, that's not—"

"I know. I know why you're here, and I know why you left." she finally pulled from the embrace and looked up to the green eyes of her husband. "But I felt alone." she dropped her head as she felt a warmth a tear escape down her cheek. "And I felt lost and I felt as if my whole world was gone, and—" she lifted her eyes back to Clint. He pressed a hand to her cheek, brushing away the tears with his thumb. "And I'm not saying all of this to make you feel bad, but I need you to understand that I needed to feel those things. I needed to find the strength to pull myself out of that loneliness, and that guilt and I did." she closes her eyes and her jaw clenched. Bart's grasp around her tightened.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, and she opened her eyes, and just smiled and shook her head. She slid her hands around his neck, tugging him forward, and he didn't hesitate to meet her lips with his own. Both wanted the kiss to last for a lot longer than what it could. It felt like ages since they last kissed and they didn't want to rush this moment, but there was clock hanging above their head and only one of them knew it. It's why Katie pulled back first, once again dropping her head to Clint's chest.

"I want to see Tai." she lifted her eyes to Clint. "I need to see her." Clint looked at her for a moment, hearing the urgency in her voice and he simply nodded before taking her hand, and pulling her with him toward the house. The moment they walked in, Clint pulled her toward the steps, but stopped the moment the door to the kitchen opened and a gasp followed. They lifted their eyes to see Martin and Cynthia standing there, both staring in shock at the sight of their daughter.

"Baby—" Cynthia took a step forward, but Katie turned away and simply hurried up the stairs in search of her daughter. They both turned to Clint who looked up the stairs before looking over to the couple who still stood a bit shell shocked. "How—how is she here?"

"I don't know." Clint replied before hurrying up the stairs as well.

Cynthia turned around to Martin who slid a hand over his eyes. She took a step forward, and reached up to place a hand on his shoulder, but he backed away.

"Martin—"

"I just—" he shook his head before glancing up to the ceiling, letting out a sigh. His daughter was here, and she was angry at them and he couldn't blame her. "I thought I was alright with this, I thought I could move forward, but—" he looked back over to his wife and shook his head.

"This was our daughter and you never—" he shook his head feeling the initial anger he throught he'd gotten passed bubbling up inside of him once again.

"Martin, I apologized many times, but I also explained to you that—" she shrugged. "I didn't believe my own eyes. I didn't believe that I was visited by a being from another planet or that they had done something to my baby." Martin shook his head because her reasoning was logical and honestly he understood it, but the fact that it was his daughter that was at the center of this, and that he was blindsided for so long. "I don't know what you want me to do. I can't change the past." Martin looked at her for a moment before shaking his head and simply storming out of the front door.

When Clint appeared inside the nursery he found Katie standing a couple of feet away from Natalia's crib. It was as if she were hesitant to go over to her.

"What if she doesn't remember me?" Katie whispered. "What if she doesn't know who I am." Clint walked over to stand beside her, bringing an around her and nudging her forward.

"That's not possible Kat," Clint said, before reaching forward and lifting one of the hanging pictures from the mobile revealing a picture of Katie. He grabbed the next, and it was a picture of Katie and Clint. He grabbed the next and it was a picture of Katie holding Natalia after she was just born. "Your daughter looks at your face every night before she goes to sleep." Katie's eyes looked down to the sleeping child and a smile pulled at her lips and tears pricked her eyes. It felt like it’s been too long since she's seen her daughter, and in this moment she just wanted to fall apart and let out the emotions clawing at her insides. Instinctively, Katie reached forward, and gently slid her hands underneath the child, and the moment Natalia was in her mother arms she latched on tightly, nuzzling her nose against Katie's chest. Katie pressed a kiss to the top of the child's head before walking around the crib to sit in the rocking chair near the window. Clint stood, watching her movements, and he couldn't help but smile. She was right here, right now and it's all he's ever wanted. "Kat—"

"She's gotten so big." Katie says staring down to the tiny face and she swallows back the emotions in her throat. She closed her eyes and tried to soak up as much of this moment.

"Kat—" Clint says once again, stepping forward, and dropping to the floor in front of her. "What's going on?" she looked over to him and just shook her head.

"I have to say goodbye." she said and the words were followed by more tears as she looked down to her daughter.

"You don't say goodbye, Kat. What's happening? Does this have anything to do with what's happening with the team, because you don't have to fight with them." Katie looked back over to the man. "You can stay here, with us." Oh, it was such a tempting offer. It was almost cruel. She smiled down to Clint, taking in a deep breath, as she dropped another kiss to the top of the baby's head. "Kat?" Katie stood to her feet and walked back over to the crib where she carefully lowered her daughter. She let her finger slide through Natalia's soft curls wanting this moment to last much longer than it could. "Kat-" the desperation was now in Clint's tone, because he could feel that something was wrong and he could feel as if this moment would be another defining moment in his life. She turned back to face him. "Tell me what's happening."

"The world need avenging." she said and more tears escaped her eyes. "And this time...this time I know my place in it."

"And what place is that?" Clint asked, and Katie closed the distance between them, and Clint brought his hands to her waist as Katie cupped the sides of his face.

"I am first." she said, and Clint's eyes dropped to the glowing in her chest before bringing his wide eyes back to her. "And I shall be the last." she pulled his lips to hers, and with this kiss every moment, every experience just came flooding back.

 _"_ _One thing you will learn about me Bart is that I'm not one to turn down a challenge." Katie says before walking over to get the bow. Clint's eyes trailed to her back side and he mentally kicked himself. She plucked the bow from the wall and turned back to him. "And I usually get what I want."_

 _"_ _Something we have in common." Clint replied with smirk as he watched her ready her stance._

Clint's arms wrapped tightly around her, as their lips never parted. A part of him was scared, frightened even, because he felt as if this moment would be short lived.

_"Marry me." he said surprising both of them, but he wouldn't take it back. He watched her closely as the smile fell from her lips and her face scrunched into a look of both shock and confusion. For a moment he wondered if he was just being stupid. They'd just gotten back to them, and it had only been a couple of months. Maybe she wasn't ready._

_"_ _Are you serious?" she asked sitting up and he did the same. Before he could even answer she shook her head before smiling slightly. "Of course you're not serious, you're drunk. If I knew that woman was a hooker, I would've never left you alone with her." she turned back to him and smiled. "So how wasted are you?"_

 _"_ _I actually haven't had a drink tonight." Clint said and Katie's smile once again fell. "So right now, when I'm asking you to marry me, mind my is completely unclouded." she looked at him for a moment as if waiting for the punch line. He just stared back at her awaiting an answer. "Kat—" before he could say another word, she had stood to her feet and was heading for the stairwell, trying to place as much distance between her and him._

Clint pulled back, and stared into Katie's eyes as they both tried to catch their breath. He kept his grasp firmly around her, in hopes of keeping her here.

"I've never felt love like the love I have for you." Katie whispers with a tearful smile. "You've made me stronger, you've made me happier, and you've made my life worth living during a time I thought I didn't deserve to live."

"Kat, don't do this." he didn't know what was happening, but he had the feeling he should stop it before it did. "Just stay here, with us, and we will keep being happy."

"I wish I could...you have no idea how much I wish—" she closed her eyes and grimaced, and Clint held her a bit tighter. She opened her eyes and looked back to him. "I thought I could get around the inevitable, but some things are just destined to happen. Apparently I have a purpose and I have to fulfill it."

_Clint wasn't going to let her get away that easily. The moment she started for the door, he was right behind her._

_"_ _Where are you going Kat?" he asked keeping up with her brisk step down the stairs._

 _"_ _I don't know!" she called back before pushing through a door. They ended up in one of the halls of the hotel, still moving quickly._

 _"_ _Kat, talk to me." Clint said before reaching out and grabbing her arm to stop her. "I will not let you run from this. From us. I love you." she looked into his eyes and could see that those words were true. "I know you love me."_

 _"_ _I do love you which is why I'm going to do you this favor. I'm the last person you should want to be tied to forever." she said before turning to walk away, but Clint didn't let her go._

 _"_ _You're right." Clint said and Katie turned back to him with confusion as his hands came to the sides of her face. "Forever isn't long enough."_

 _"_ _Bart-"_

_"Just say yes." Clint said and Katie smiled despite her reservations about all of this. She placed her hands on his chest and looked into his eyes. "Right now those are the only words that could add to this epic birthday." Katie didn't say anything and he could tell that she was really thinking about what to say._

_"_ _I talk too much."_

 _"_ _I know and I love that about you."_

 _"_ _I have really weird friends."_

 _"_ _So do I."_

 _"_ _I end up in trouble at least once, sometimes twice a week."_

 _"_ _I'm use to it by now."_

_He watched her and he could see it happening. He could see her as she stopped fighting the idea that this could actually happen. She smiled widely before nodding._

_"_ _Yes." she said in an almost whisper. Clint smiled unable to stop himself before he smashed his lips against hers in a fiery kiss filled with so much, hope, love and passion._

Katie stared into Clint's green eyes, and felt every emotion in this moment and she felt she would just burst if she didn't leave.

"You're going to take care of her. I have no doubt in my mind that you will always make sure she's happy."

"Kat, just don't, just—" he dropped his forehead against hers, still holding onto her tight.

"When she grows up, tell her everything about me. The good, the bad, the crazy. Tell her that I loved her more than the sun and the moon and the stars." she closed her eyes, and a sob escaped her lips. "Tell her that on this day I was thinking of her, and that everything I do today is because I love her. And tell her that I'm sorry that I couldn't be there when she grows up and that I couldn't be there to hold her hand and tell her that I love her everyday." she opened her eyes to see the tears pouring from her husband’s eyes and so she reached up to wipe them away. "Tell her that when she looks up to the sky and she talks to me, that I will hear her. Every word I will hear her." Clint dropped his head, burying his nose in her shoulder. "You are the love of my life Bart. Thank you." she pressed a kiss to his cheek, and in the next second she was gone. And Clint felt his heart shatter into pieces.

There was a war being fought in Wakanda. A brutal, bloody war to stop the end of the word. Katie appeared at the center of it. Giving her a front row seat to the sight of aliens, mutants, and humans fighting a war she's sure they probably don't even completely understand. Her eyes look to Thor who now held his ax and wielded as fiercely as she knew he would. A sharp gust of wind began picking up and Katie turned, looking up to see Storm spinning, creating a tornado like affect tossing a couple of aliens like they were nothing. Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, they were fighting. Katie spun around, her eyes catching sight of Bucky...and there was Natasha guns held high, Bruce wasn't there, but the Hulk was giving hell. They were all fighting. Giving their all. But it wouldn't be enough. She thought this could work. That if they fought hard enough, if they could outsmart Thanos, and beat him, then that could be end of it. It was a fantasy because she knew Thanos. She knew he had legions of armies, thousands of followers who would lie down their lives for him. He was smart, and he anticipated every move. He was what one would call an unbeatable opponent, or at least you would if there hadn't been a weapon created to stop him.

"Katie?" a hand touched her shoulder, and she turned to see Steve who stood trying to catch his breath as he held his shield in his hand. "You shouldn't be—" his eyes turned as another alien began running right toward her. Katie turned following his eyes, and she didn't bat an eye the moment she lifted a hand and with a flick of her wrist, the being disappeared. She let out a heavy sigh before turning to Steve who stared back to her with wide eyes. "How—"

"You asked me how this ended, and I told you that I didn't know, but I lied." she took a step forward toward him. "I do know how this ends Steve, and I fought and I went along with all of these plans because I believed that we could win this way, but we can't." Steve was confused, which wasn't surprising for him most of the time, but right now he really needed to understand.

"Katie, what are you talking about?" Steve asked.

"No more running blind." she said placing a hand on his cheek with a smile. "I accept who I am and I accept what I must do." she took a step back, but Steve caught her arm and she turned back to him.

"Katie whatever you're planning—" Katie closed the distance between them, placing her hands on the sides of his face. "Katie—" suddenly the fighting around them ceased, and Steve's eyes turned where he saw Bucky who took only a single step before something started happening. It was as if his body was disintegrating. He glanced up to Bucky in horror, and Steve was forced to just watch as his friend just turned into dust and floated away in the wind. "Bucky!" his eyes turned because Bucky wasn't the only one. Person after person. He watched as T'Challa dropped to his knees, his body completely turning in to dust, and just blowing away.

"This is what will happen once Thanos gets all of the stones." Katie says, and Steve turns his eyes to the woman. "And no matter how strong we fight, how pure our hearts are—" she took in a deep breath and she felt the tears once again fall from her eyes. "It doesn't matter that we're the good guys. The heroes. We will lose and he will win. And it was destined to happen."

"All of this death was destined to happen?" Steve asked and Katie shook her head.

"No, it wasn't. Those stones were tossed across the ends of the universe. The great powers that be knew that whoever tried to wield them would cause untold mayhem."

"They knew someone like Thanos would come around?" Steve asked and Katie gave a nod. "And they planned for it." she once again gave a nod. "You?" a smile tugged at her lips. "Katie, I don't know what is happening, but whatever this is, we can just face it together, like we always do."

"Except this fight was never meant for the Avengers." she pulled away from him and suddenly they were back in the center of a fight that hadn't died down. More lives were taken, and even more would be if this didn't end soon. She began walking away from Steve, and he kept his eyes on her as she clasped her hands in front of her before lifting her eyes to the sky. "Let's end this." suddenly a bright light appeared from the sky and shot right down into Katie causing an explosion that caused the earth to shake and tossed everyone on that field several feet in all directions.

Steve let out a groan as he began sitting up. The moment he opened his eyes he stared in utter shock at the sight of Katie standing in front of a large purplish gray being, a glove on his hand fitted with gems. He turned when someone grabbed his arm, and he looked up to see Natasha trying to help him to his feet.

"I take it that's Thanos." the woman said as Steve stood.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is." Steve said as he watched Katie and the being stand toe to toe with one another. His eyes drift to the side, only now noticing Tony, and the Spider-man along with a couple of more individuals he didn't recognize. "We need to get to Katie before she does something—"

"Stupid?"

"No, before she does something... irreversible." Steve said as he began stepping forward, trying to get as close as possible.

Katie stared up into the dark eyes of the monster that has haunted her dreams for months. So much fear, so much terror, so much confusion always surrounded him and yet in this moment she felt none of it.

"There you are." Thanos said, a sick, twisted smile on his face as he looks down to the tiny woman. "I've been waiting for you."

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing." Katie says as she never breaks the eye contact with the being. "You caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people and a lot of planets."

"Yeah, well, great power always comes with a cost." he took a step toward the woman, and it was a move that was not liked. Suddenly Tony appeared at her side, and so did Stephen, and Spider-man. On the other side of Thanos, Steve, Natasha, Thor and the Hulk gathered around leaving the monster surrounded and the sight that made him laugh. "This is what you're fighting for?" he turned back to Katie and just shook his head. "Do you have any idea how we could change everything. We can make everything, everyone...better. No more sickness, no more famine, just order and power."

"That sounds nice to an extent, but there should be limitations to that type of power." Katie said her eyes glancing down to the gauntlet, that still held only four stones. But beside her was Stephen who still wore the Time Stone, and just a few feet away stood Vision who still had the mind stone. Right now all six stones were in the exact same place, at the exact same time, and the power they created was flowing through her, and igniting something that she didn't know was there.

"You know getting six stones was never the goal." he said as he leaned forward. His eyes drifted to the glowing of her chest. "I wasn't going to stop until I had the seventh."

"Seventh stone." Stephen muttered turning away and remembering Katie's words.

" _I think we're missing something. There's something that doesn't feel right about there only being six stones. I don't know why, but you need to remember that."_

Stephen turned back to Katie, and the sudden realization struck him and he dropped his head.

"It's her." he muttered and Tony who was closest to him looked over to him in confusion. "It's...her." Stephen shook his head before turning to Tony. "We need to get her out of here, now." Stephen lifted his hands about to create a door, fully prepared to throw Katie through it if need be, but the moment he tried, nothing happened. He spun his hands, cleared his mind and focused, but his magic wasn't working. He looked up to the woman and realized she wasn't letting him.

"I was warned about you. The Ego stone, but you probably don't know what you are." in a swift movement, he jerked his hand forward, grabbing Katie around her neck, lifting her off off the ground, and the Avengers moved in to attack. "Move and I snap her neck sooner rather than later." and the words made them all begrugenly stand down.

"We need to do something." Bucky said moving forward, but Steve quickly caught his arm. Bucky turned to his friend. "He's going to kill her! We have to stop him!"

"I know that, but we have to do this strategically." Steve said before glancing over to Natasha who stared for a second before giving a nod. Steve turned to Thor who stood near by as well. Thor gave a subtle nod before moving through to the other side.

"Distraction." she said and Steve gave a nod before watching the woman sift through the crowd.

"Hey, ass face!" Tony called as he hovered in front of Thanos. "Let her go, and I won't blow a hole in your face." Tony held up a metal hand, prepared to shoot. Thanos ignored him as he kept his eyes on the woman in front of him.

"Last chance, join me or die." Thanos' ultimatum would've made Katie laugh if his hand wasn't gripping her throat so tightly. "You can't beat me. None of them can beat me. I am inevitable!"

"You are inevitable, but do you know what else is?" Katie choked out as her wind pipe continued to close. There was a sudden wind that blew furiously, and everyone lifted their eyes to the sky that was no longer just blue. It was swirl, of green, blue, orange, red, purple and yellow. There was something in the wind though, an energy no one could explain. "Everything has a beginning and every beginning has an inevitable end. I just happened to be both. It was never the Ego stone you should've been worried about Thanos." Suddenly the swirling lights from the sky came raining down, all flowing in to the woman in front of him. Thanos dropped her, and watched her fall to the ground with a thud.

"Kitten," Tony dropped back to the ground, and moved toward her, only to stop when she lifted her head, and her eyes were glowing bright yellow, as her skin begins to change color. "Kitten?"

"Tony, I would back away." Stephen says and Tony drops his face plate and turns to the man. "I don't think that's Katherine anymore." Tony turns back to the woman who finally pushes herself to her feet, her skin now completely purple.

"You think!" Tony says as he watches as the woman turns back to Thanos who for the first time actually looks nervous.

"Thanos." she says, her voice different. It's a deeper tone, but there's also an echo to it, as if multiple people are talking at once. "You've been a bad, bad boy." Thanos stared at the woman as she suddenly lifted from the ground and hovered in front of him.

"Nemesis." he muttered, "The original universe." and at the sound of the name the woman smiled. Soon the stories of her legend came to him and he found himself reciting it. "It was all that was, and all that was, was it." he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. "This being was infinity and forever." He grit his teeth before lifting his gauntlet and snapping his fingers, but nothing happened. He looked down to his arm, only now realizing that all the stones were gone.

"Looking for these?" Thanos turned back to Nemesis and saw the four stones now embedded under the skin of her arms. She glanced over to Stephen, her eyes liking to the time stone. “Have to borrow that.” Stephen look down, realizing the stone was gone. When he lifted his eyes, he noticed the green jewel now implanted in her arm as well. “One more,” she closed her eyes and they all watched as a yellow jewel suddenly appeared on her arm as well. She open her eyes to Thanos and sighed. "And now you're just boring, and I hate boring." the being lifted her hand and snapped her finger and they stood and watched as the great and powerful Thanos was reduced to nothing but dust. It was the fate that fell upon his legion, and soon all of Thanos' men were nothing but a brittle dust that blew in the wind.

Silence followed the moment as Nemesis lowered herself back to the ground, and her glowing yellow eyes saw the humans watching her. She stared in a bit of amusement, seeing what has been created in her absence. They're all so weak, and unintelligent, and yet her heart warms for them which she blames for the human chosen to be her vessel.

"Right," it was Tony Stark who was brave enough to step close to the purple woman with her yellow eyes. "Thanks for that, but if you don't mind, I'd like my friend back so you can turn back into swirling lights and shoot right back up to the sky." she looked at the man in amusement. "That really wasn't a request."

"Tony..my friend." Thor took cautious steps forward as he appeared in front of Tony. "You should not speak to her in such a way."

"And why is that?" Tony asked.

"Because she is the most powerful being anyone has ever laid eyes on." Thor said as he smiled to the woman hoping to avoid any wrath Tony's words might've caused.

"I don't care what she is, I just want my Kitten back!" Tony tried to step forward, but Thor shoved him back.

"Oh, Kitten is no more." Nemesis said. "No human can survive my in-habitation. Only she could choose this even though it was never really a choice. The moment the Ego was implanted in her, was the moment my return was only a matter of when. " Nemesis spun around. "This planet—" she turned back to the Asgardian. "Earth?" he gave a nod and she hummed in response. "A planet, with humans and...something else." she thought about a life here. She once ended her existence because the lonliness became unbearable and now maybe...

" _No,"_

Nemesis turned at the voice. She'd learned the voices of the stones, knew the translation to their many languages, but that voice belonged to someone else. The woman with the heart that beat for world.

" _For my sacrifice, I only requested one thing... I was promised."_

"You were, and it shall be done." Nemesis spoke and she turned back to the humans in front of her, She turned back to Tony who still watched her, and she could see the emotion prickling from his eyes. "Your Kitten, for her sacrifice was granted a request of anything she wanted. And she has chosen."

"What did she choose?" Tony asked and the being in front of him smiled before once again lifting her hand and snapping her finger.

Someone was pinching his nose. Tony cracked open one eye, spotting the culprit and she just giggled before releasing him.

"Wake up daddy!

Tony opened his eyes and sat up from the bed, stretching his tired muscles before turning to the little girl whose dark hair was a mess over her head.

"And good morning to you my dear spawn." Tony said and the girl just shook her head before turning and running out of the room. The man shook his head before glancing over to his sleeping wife who hadn't budged. "I know you're not sleep Pep."

"Yes I am, Tony." Pepper muttered as she nuzzled her cheek into her pillow. "Now go feed your daughter." the man groaned before stepping out of bed, slipping on his slippers and lazily dragging his feet out of the room.

Tony looked down to his daughter, his chin resting in his palm, as she happily ate her cereal. A smile tugged at his lips, because he can never explain that feeling inside of him when he looks at her. The day she was born was the day she created another part of him. A part that only existed to take care of her.

"Good?" he asked and she looked up to him, milk spilling down her chin with a bright smile as she gave a nod. "Well alright then." Tony stood to his feet about to grab himself a bowl, but he stopped. He turned, glancing around their cabin which is now their home and he can't help but feel as if something is off.

"You ok daddy?" Morgan asked, and Tony turned to her and just smiled.

"Yeah, just fine sweetie." he replied before going to get his bowl. He'd opened the cabinet, when something caught his eye out of the window above the sink. He frowned slightly before glancing over to Morgan who continued to eat her breakfast. He walked over, stepping out of the front door onto the porch, his eyes glancing around when suddenly he feels something nudge his ankle. Tony steps back a bit as he looks down, surprised to see a furry, white kitten. He drops down and picks it up in his arms, letting his fingers move through it's fur and it purs in appreciation. "Kitten," there's a sudden pit in Tony's stomach and he drops the kitten in his hands, but it lands on it's feet and scurries away. Tony turns, closing his eyes. He grabbed his head, and he felt the feeling in his legs just give out.

" _You're a chick."_

_"And you're Tony Stark."_

"Tony?" Pepper quickly rushed out to the man, dropping beside him, and bringing him into her arms. "Tony, what's wrong?"

"Mommy?"

"Morgan, go back inside honey!" Pepper called back to her daughter. "Daddy's fine, he just fell. Go finish your breakfast." the girl stood there for a moment longer before finally turning and going back into the house. "Tony, look at me." Tony finally opened his eyes, and he turned to his wife. "Tony, what's happened?"

"I have to find her."

"Find who?"

"Kitten," Tony says sitting up and standing to his feet.

"You have to find a Kitten?" Pepper asked and Tony turned to her and shook his head.

"No, I have to find Katie." he replies and the confusion never leaves his wife's features.

"Tony, who is Katie?"


	14. Chapter 14

Tony Stark liked puzzles. He liked figuring out how things worked. When he was younger he would often be so curious that he would break small appliances apart, study their insides before attempting to rebuild them. It was the challenge the puzzle created...the chance for him to prove how intellectually superior he truly was. They actually thrilled him.

At the moment, Tony was faced with a puzzle that didn't thrill him. It actually infuriated him. His finger swiped the holographic computer, going through file after file and coming up with the same answer he'd gotten days ago. It was late, Morgan asleep and Pepper...well Pepper wasn't sleeping much with this new obsession of Tony's. She tried to talk to him, tried to suggest that maybe all of this was PTSD from the fight with Thanos, but Tony refused to believe anything that wasn't what he knew deep down in his soul. The woman had just taken a shower and as she walked into their bedroom, she sighed seeing that Tony wasn't there. She stepped out the backdoor, seeing the light coming from the garage. As she neared, she heard his faint muttering. When she pushed open the door to the garage, she spotted him in the spot he'd been for hours, still swiping away on that computer for something he hadn't accepted just wasn't there. She hesitated confronting him again. Afraid of another fight, but she saw his disheveled appearance. The circles under his eyes from not sleeping. He couldn't keep going like this.

"Tony-" she moved in closer to him. He glanced over to her for a second before turning back to the screen. "I think it's time for this to end."

"I can't do that. She's gone, like—" Tony shook his head. "FRIDAY, expand the search parameters."

"Sir, I've exhausted all search engines from every federal agency we have access to. There is no record of a Katherine Chambers, Katherine Banks, or Katherine Barton." Tony growled under his breath before turning and sliding a hand across his face trying to think of what he should do next. He couldn't...wouldn't let this puzzle beat him.

"Tony, why is it so impossible for you to accept that maybe this woman just doesn't exist?" Pepper asked, and Tony lifted his head and turned to her with a look she could only describe as betrayal.

"Because I know she exists Pep. She's my best friend, and she-" he turned back to the holo screen watching the search run again. "She's saved my life-" he turned to his wife. "She's saved your life." he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "She did something."

"Did what?"

"She made us forget her." Tony opened his eyes and turned back to Pepper. "She stopped Thanos."

"No, you and the team stopped Thanos. You were able to create the machine to send you all back in time to collect the stones to create your own glove." Pepper says hoping that if he hears the truth it will reach something inside of him. "You used it to defeat Thanos. You saved the world again." Tony closed his eyes, seeing the memories of Pepper's words and yet they conflicted with other memories. Memories of his friend, her skin purple, her eyes glowing yellow and with a snap of her finger, Thanos and his alien buddies were just turned to dust. "Tony, there was no woman—"

"Katie-" Tony said turning back to his wife and just shrugged. "I don't know what she did, or why this is happening, but I know she's real. I know she existed."

"And why do you remember her and I don't?" Pepper asked. "Why does the world not know who she is, but you do?" Tony couldn't answer that question, not yet. He turned back to the holographic screen, once again thinking of what to do next. "Tony-"

"I have to figure this out Pepper." Tony finally said turning back to the woman. "She was my friend, and I don't have the luxury of losing those, especially not her."

"Ok, Tony, say you're right. Say this woman stopped Thanos, and then somehow made the world think she never existed. How can you fix that? That seems so beyond the scope of-"Pepper shook her head. "Everything."

"I don't know!" he snapped angrily and Pepper jumped at his tone. The man let out a sigh before turning to the woman. "I'm sorry, I didn't-" he walked over to his wife and took her hands. "What I know is that if this was me, she wouldn't give up." Pepper saw the certainty in his eyes, and she couldn't deny that he truly believed all of this. She knew he wouldn't just get past this. He needed to see it through to the end.

"Ok," she placed a hand to his cheek, and moved in closer to him. "Find her." he looked at the woman for a moment, before pulling her into a tight hug. Pepper tightened her grasp around her husband, hiding the hesitance and fear on her face at whatever this could lead to if he doesn't find the answers he's looking for.

Early the next morning, Morgan Stark sat on the porch steps watching as her father placed a suit case in the trunk. At breakfast he said he would be going away for a couple of days, and when she asked if she and mommy would be going with him, he said that it would be a boring trip and that he wouldn't dare inflict such hardship on his little spawn. Tony closed the trunk and turned, seeing his daughter, and that disappointed look on her face that would always wound him. He walked over and sat on the porch beside her, bringing his arm around her.

"What's with the look, light of my life?" he asked, and the little girl didn't say anything. Oh, the silent treatment, she really was upset with him. "You're not talking to me, now?" she turned her eyes away, and Tony let out an exaggerated sigh. "How will I go on with life without hearing the beautiful sound of the wonderful, ridiculously smart, stinky feet-"

"Hey, my feet aren't stinky!" Morgan says, turning to her father who looks down to her with a smile, before plucking her from her seat and planting her in his lap. "Why can't I go with you?"

"I told you, it's a boring trip. Your brain would ooze with how boring it's going to be." he placed a kiss to her cheek. "I just have to find a friend of mine."

"Is your friend lost?" Morgan asked, and Tony sighed.

"Yeah, she is."

"Then you're going to find her. You're good at finding lost things. Like when you found Mr. Jar Jar." Tony chuckled at the girl before bringing his daughter into a tight hug.

"I hope so, sweetie."

"Morgan, time to get washed up for lunch." Pepper said as she walked out onto the porch, smiling at the pair.

"You heard the lady of the house." Tony says placing another kiss to Morgan's cheek, before whispering in her ear. "I'll see you when I get back, ok?" the girl gave him a nod before jumping up and rushing into the house to wash her hands for lunch. Tony stood to his feet and turned to his wife who walked down the steps to stand in front of him. "Are you here to tell me to stay?" she brought her arms around him and he did the same.

"No, I've seen that look in your eyes many times Tony. You're not going to rest until you see this to the end."

"You still don't believe me though, do you? Do you think I've imagined her." Pepper sighed before bringing her lips to his.

"Tony, I saw the sky crack open, and beings from a different planet invade earth. I'm at the point in my life where I believe anything is possible. Including a woman who was your friend, who meant a lot to you, somehow disappearing from the world. I just want you to promise me something."

"Anything." Tony replies honestly. He'd give this woman anything and everything she wanted if he could.

"The moment you get to the end of the road, come back to us." Pepper says and Tony frowned a bit unsure why she thinks he wouldn't. "Tony, I know you, you'd get to the end of that road, and find a plane to fly to keep going. I just want you to promise me that you will just see this to the end no matter what that end is. Don't risk your life...our lives trying to do the impossible." Tony gave a nod before pulling her lips to his once more.

It was a long, and tiring drive, but Tony's mind was completely occupied. He was still working out this puzzle. Going back to that moment in Wakanda, looking at her face and then the memories scramble and shift to a world that doesn't include her. Soon he pulls to a stop before stepping out of the car, his eyes looking up to the Avengers facility and letting out a sigh. After the whole Thanos fight, he promised himself that he was finished. He married Pepper, had a beautiful daughter and that was supposed to be his life. Five years had passed, and he was content. He was happy, until he stepped out that door and saw that small kitten, and somehow, someway whatever lock that kept his memories of her away, just broke and they all came flooding back.

_"So is blackmail how you recruit all of your employees Mr. Stark?" Katie asked folding her arms over her chest._

_"Call me Tony and no, this—" Tony said gesturing a hand toward her. "Is a first, I mean we literally turn down thousands of people and here you are being handed a golden ticket and you can honestly say you don't want it?"_

_"That's exactly what I'm saying Mr. Stark." she replied saying his name with obvious distrust. "I don't want a golden ticket, I don't need a golden ticket, I want a quiet life and working for Iron Man does not give me that."_

Tony let out another heavy sigh, before venturing inside. He walked inside, giving a nod to the people who passed him. They all seemed a bit surprised to see him, and given how long since he was last here, he couldn't blame them.

Tony headed to his lab first. He stood on the elevator, his eyes closed even in this moment trying to piece together a plan. When the doors opened, so did Tony's eyes and when he stepped off, he found that his lab wasn't empty.

"Hey Nat," the man greeted, looking over the woman whose hair was longer since he last saw her. She stood across from him, arms folder studying him as if to detect something he wasn't saying. "Is there a reason you're in my lab?"

"Your lab?" she asked before walking over to him. "You know given you've been gone for six years, I wouldn't think you'd call any of this yours." she continued to watch him. "How is Pepper? Morgan?"

"Both ridiculously perfect. It should be a crime how perfect they are." Tony say walking around the woman as he pulled of his jacket.

"So what in the world could pull you away from your perfect family?" she asked and Tony stopped and turned back to the woman. He hesitated for a moment before throwing caution to the wind.

"Do you know someone named, Katherine Banks?" Tony asked and Natasha frowned for a moment, before shaking her head.

"No, why?" she asked and Tony huffed before turning to the computer in front of him and typing away. "Is she the reason you're here."

"She is." Tony said, not even turning to the woman. "Katherine Banks, also called Katherine Chambers, until she was married, to which she became Katherine Barton." The confusion etched into Natasha's face as she walked over to the man and waited for him to explain.

"Tony, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about a woman who was intertwined in all of our lives has now been completely erased." he stopped and turned to the woman. "And I have no idea how or why." the woman looked at him for a moment as if trying to determine if he were being serious, but there was no sign that he wasn't. "We need to assemble the team." Tony turned back to the computer and continued typing.

"And why is that?" Natasha asked. "Because some woman has disappeared?"

"Not just some woman." Tony says looking over to her. "She was important. To all of us. And now she's gone. Look I can't explain it more than that. Once everyone is here, maybe something will just click, but until then, I've already called everyone with an SOS, so hopefully they'll be here soon." Tony turned back to his computer and Natasha stared at the man suddenly wondering if his time away has made him go crazy. She shook her head before turning and walking back toward the elevator. "Sparrow!" she stopped and glanced back to the man. "She worked for SHIELD, and when she was in the field her code name name was Sparrow. Ringing any bells?" Natasha did have the faint sense of something familiar in the name, but nothing actually clicked. She turned away for a moment before turning back to the man.

"No, it doesn't. Tony are you alright, because you seem-"

"If you say crazy, then-"

"Well sorry because you're seeming certifiable right now." Natasha said and the man just huffed before looking back tot he computer in front of him. "You called her Katherine Barton-"

"Yeah, I did." he didn't turn her.

"So who was she supposed to be to him."

"Wife." Tony replies stopping his fingers. "Mother of his daughter. Natalia-" he looked over to the woman. "Natalia Antoinette Barton. You and I are her god parents." Natasha wasn't sure what to say to that.

"And Laura-" Tony shook his head, turning away from the woman. "Tony, Clint's wife's name is Laura Barton. His and Laura's daughters are Lila and Natalia. He has a son, Cooper. There is no Katherine."

"But there is." Tony said letting a huff, turning his back to the woman, and closing his eyes. The memories of meeting Clint's family, of seeing the faces of his children, conflicted with memories of his Kitten, and his little Iron baby. "Something happened." he turned back to the woman. "Something that made everyone forget who she was."

"Everyone but you?"

"No, I didn't remember at first. For the last six years, I had no idea." Tony shook his head. "And then something happened. Something clicked, and now I remember her, I can see her face so clear in my head right now, and I have to believe that means something."

"And what does it mean to you?"

"That maybe I can bring her back?" Tony said feeling those words were true. He remembered. Maybe she knew if anyone would be able to bring her back, it would be him. Natasha watched as the man turned and lost himself in whatever he was doing on the computer. She frowned a bit before turning and stepping onto the elevator.

The team had all gone their separate ways after the war with Thanos. Tony was one of the first to announce that he was taking a step back. So a SOS from the man, asking them to return to the facility made them nervous about whatever was going to happen next.

Not surprising, it was Bruce who arrived first. The man and his beast were still merged and playing nice. Natasha had seen him in papers. They were calling him professor Hulk now, and he didn't seem to hate it. Natasha caught a glimpse of him as he walked through the gates, a backpack hung over his shoulder. She walked out to meet him, a smile coming to her face as he neared.

"Hey Nat," he greeted, as he walked over to stand in front of her. "It's been a long time."

"It has, big guy." she replied. "I see you're still green."

"Yeah, me and the other guy are still going strong." Bruce looked down to her for a moment, the air between them still a bit awkward. He shook his head before looking to the doors behind her. "So Tony is back?"

"He is, and I think he's lost his mind." the woman said and Bruce looked down to her. "Well more than usual." she nudged her head toward the door. "I should probably give you the cliff notes before you head down to the lab." Bruce sighed as he followed behind the woman.

Tony lifted his eyes toward the elevator when it opened, smiling at the sight of his large green friend.

"I can't even imagine how hard it is for you to find clothes now." Tony says walking over to the man. "Is there like a bigger and taller section you have to go to or—"

"I can't believe you called an emergency team meeting to make fun of me Tony." Bruce said looking down to the man. "I mean, it's been six years."

"I know." Tony said giving the man a pat on the shoulder. "I meant to keep in touch, but-"

"You got married, and had a baby." Tony sighed, as he turned and swipe up a picture of Pepper and Morgan.

"Well that baby is now six going on twenty six." Tony smiled up to the picture. "I still can't figure out how that perfect little thing came from me." he shook his head before turning back to Bruce.

"Well you're one lucky bastard," Bruce laughed, and Tony couldn't help but laugh too.

"That I am." soon the laughter died down, and Bruce knew he'd have to ask the question he'd been waiting to ask. "So how much has Nat told you?" Tony turned and headed back to his computer, his eyes looking up to the search that was still running.

"She says you called us here to find a woman who doesn't exist." Bruce said watching the man, waiting for a reaction. "Which is odd seeing as I thought team meetings were only called when aliens were invading the earth."

"Well this is kind of worse." Tony says turning to his friend. "I didn't call you here just to search for some woman. She was my friend...our friend. Each and everyone of us knew her, we loved her. She was the pain in the ass we cared about and now she's not here." This time it was Tony's turn to watch his large green friend and wait for some sort of reaction. He could tell Bruce was thinking about how to respond. "And I know how this sounds-"

"Tony—"

"No, you're going to tell me that this doesn't make sense, or that maybe I'm making this up, but Bruce, I'm not. I'm really not. I just need someone to believe me."

"Tony-" Bruce took a step forward. "Let's just start from the beginning. What's her name?"

"Her name is Katherine." Tony says closing his eyes, still able to picture her face. "Katherine Barton." he turned back to Bruce whose brow furrowed in confusion. "She was Clint's wife." Bruce didn't say anything right away, instead decided to ask more questions.

"Tell me about her."

Tony sighed and turned away with a smile. "I met her after she hacked me." he turned back to Bruce. "We'd just rolled out our new and improved Stark Firewall. It was impenetrable, or at least that's what I thought."

"Tony, I've seen the code for that program, it's-" Bruce shook his head. "Hacking that would be-"

"Impossible right? But she did it, and I think the moment she did, I just needed to know everything about her."

"So she breaks into your company and you fall in love."

"Well yes and no. I was intrigued more than anything. She broke into the Stark Industries mainframe, had access to information that would make her ridiculously rich, but that wasn't her motivation." Tony chuckled as he shook his head before turning back to Bruce. "She said I should have never called it impenetrable. She said I created a challenge that she couldn't turn down." Bruce saw the look in Tony's eyes as he spoke. There was no doubt, or inclination that this was a story he wasn’t just making up. Tony's words were honest, as if it were completely true. The look in Tony's eyes was enough for Bruce to actually believe that something more was happening. "Look once Barton, Thor and Cap get here-"

"Tony-" Bruce said, and Tony turned to the man in confusion. "Steve isn't coming."

"What are you talking about?"

"Steve had to return the infinity stones back to their timelines, remember?" Bruce asked and Tony turned away, closing his eyes as the memory of Steve volunteering to return the stones, but then never coming back. It was then that an old gray haired Steve Rogers appeared, revealing that his younger counterpart wouldn't be returning. Tony opened his eyes and sighed.

"Yeah, he went back, probably ran into Peggy." Tony said remembering his conversation with old man Rogers. "He decided to finally do something for himself." Tony turned back to Bruce, his large green friend watching his closely. "Well I have a number for the old man, maybe he can—"

"Tony-"

Suddenly there are sparks on the other side of the lab, and both men turned as the sparks create a circle that expands large enough for them to see Stephen Strange from the other side. Strange steps through, in to the lab, an annoyed look on his face as he looks over to Tony.

"Please tell me your vague message about the possible end of the world was an over-exaggeration." Stephen said before glancing over to Bruce. "Doctor Banner,"

"Dr. Strange." Bruce sighed before turning to Tony.

"Do you know someone named Katherine Barton?" Tony asked as he watched Stephen's face and the confusion that laced into his features. For some reason Tony thought Stephen and his magical abilities would've made him immune to whatever was happening, but the look on Stephen's face proved him wrong. "And of course you don't." Tony sighed, turning and dropping into the chair beside him. Stephen glanced over to Bruce who just shrugged.

"And who is Katherine Barton?" Stephen asked turning back to Tony. Tony was tired of answering that question, because he felt every time he did, everyone just looked at him as if he were insane. The man didn't say anything and so the magician turned to the hulk.

"Apparently she's a woman who we all once knew, but now she doesn't seem to exist and none of us remember her, except for Tony." Bruce said and Stephen quirked a brow before turning back to Tony. "Have you ever heard of anything like that?"

"Tony, why exactly am I here?" Stephen asked, and Tony brought his hand to his chin in thought. Finally something came to him and he jumped to his feet.

"Wait-" Tony turned to Stephen. "Something happened. She was talking to Thanos about the stones, and then you got weird and said we had to get her out of there. It's like you knew something was going to happen." Stephen continued to look at the man in confusion. Tony turned away trying to remember that moment and everything that was said. "What did she say..." it hit him and he turned back to the man. "Seventh stone."

"But there's only six infinity stones." Bruce said, hoping to reign in his friends delusions. Tony just waved him off as he continued to look at Stephen who turned away.

"He called her Nemesis." Tony continued and Stephen turned back to the man with a frown. "Something happened to my kitten, her skin was purple and her eyes were glowing...it wasn't her. Something had taken over her body. It has something to do with this seventh stone right?" Stephen remained silent, his mind suddenly racing with thoughts he told himself to ignore. "C'mon, you know her. She crashed with you for months, you were friends, not best friends because I was her best friend, but you looked out for her when she needed someone." Tony shook his head hoping something was getting through to the man. "You were her..."

"Compass." Stephen suddenly said still confused, still unsure why there was a familiarity in the words. He turned away, now remembering the words of the Ancient One, and how they never really made any sense. Stephen turned back to Tony, and noticed how both he and Bruce were watching him. "I should go."

"Go, wait, you remember something don't you?" Tony took a step toward the man. "Do you remember her?"

"I don't remember anyone Tony." Stephen replied turning away slightly. "But that doesn't mean you're wrong." he looked back to Tony who now seemed a bit more hopeful.

"What are you saying?" Bruce asked. "Do you believe Tony is right? That there's some woman none of us can remember?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that I was once told that I would be the compass to someone who desperately needed a guide." Stephen turned to Tony. "You said she was called Nemesis?" Tony nodded.

"Yeah, purple skin, yellow eyes...ring any bells?"

"Well if you're describing who I think you're describing, then I may be more inclined to believe you." Stephen turned, lifting his hands, and moving them in a rapid motion making a doorway to the Sanctum appear. "But I need to do a bit of research first." he was about to step through but Tony stopped him.

"Hey, wait-" Stephen turned to Tony. "So it's possible right?"

"If this is Nemesis, then yes this is definitely possible. But there's so many outlying questions we would need to take into consideration." Stephen shook his head. "Why make us forget this woman or-" he turned back to the billionaire. "Why do you remember?"

"And that's what you're going to do? Get answers to these questions?" Tony asked and the magician gave a nod. "Well then go, research your ass off, and the moment you find something, get back here." Stephen rolled his eyes before turning and stepping into the Sanctum, the doorway closing behind him. Tony turned back to Bruce with a smile.

"Did you hear that! I'm right!"

"That's not what he said, Tony." Bruce said walking over to the man. "He says there's a possibility something is going on, but he needs to look into it more. There's also still a chance that maybe you need to rest and step away."

"Bruce, buddy, I love you, but don't talk to me like I'm crazy, because I'm not. I believe with my whole heart that she is real, and for some reason we just can't remember her."

"Ok Tony, tell me more about her then. What happened the last time you saw her?" Bruce asked and Tony turned away, before taking a seat.

"It was Wakanda. I'd somehow appeared from Titan to Wakanda in a blink of an eye to see her standing toe to toe with Thanos." Tony turned back to Bruce and shook his head. "But it wasn't her. It was this Nemesis thing. He had the glove with most of the stones which one would assume made him the most powerful being there."

"But he wasn't?" Bruce asked and Tony shook his head.

"He thought he was. Hell we all thought he was, but then she took them." Tony turned back to Bruce, the memory so vivid right now, still colliding with memories that never was. "They somehow implanted themselves in her arm."

"Tony, are you hearing your self right now. The infinity stones implanting themselves in her arm. We built our own glove for those stones and just using them could nearly kill a person. You're saying they were in her skin and-"

"Yes I am, and the moment she did it, she called that bastard boring before snapping her fingers and turning Thanos and his army of assholes into dust." Tony turned away as he remembered what happened after. "Then she-"

"She what?"

"This thing, this Nemesis, was still there and my Kitten wasn't, so I asked nicely, or not so nicely for her to bring me back my friend."

"What did she say?"

"That it wasn't possible, that Katie couldn't return to a body that held that thing."

"So you're saying even if we did remember her, it would be impossible for her to return?" Bruce asked and Tony turned to the man, but didn't say anything. "With that logic Tony, what are you really trying to accomplish by getting us all here." Tony stood to his feet and stalked away, not wanting to hear anymore. "If she's gone and she doesn't want us to remember, then maybe we should just leave well enough alone." Tony stopped and turned back to the man. "Tony—"

"I would be more inclined to believe that if I didn't have years of memories of this woman playing on repeat in my head right now. I know what she said, that my Kitten couldn't come back, but I have to believe that if I remember her, then maybe she was wrong."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because Bruce, I'm the one person she knows who'd cross hell and high water just to bring her back. I just have to figure out how." The doors to the lab opened, and Tony stood to his feet to see Natasha standing beside Clint who met his eyes in confusion.

"Just so you know Stark, I'm going to get a lot of grief for this trip from my wife when I get back home." Clint says walking over to the man. Clint expected a Tony Stark annoying comeback, some sort of joke about him being whipped or not wearing the pants in his family. He didn't expect the seriousness in Tony's expression and that only worried him. "Please don't tell me there's more aliens headed to Earth, because I thought I made it pretty clear that I was out." Clint glanced over to the giant green Bruce Banner with a nod. "Doc."

"Good to see you, Clint." Bruce said before turning to Tony who hasn't said a word. "Tony?" Tony took a few steps toward Clint who was still completely confused.

"What the hell is going on here, Stark? Why are we here?"

"Tell me Clint, have any weird dreams about a woman you've never seen before?" Tony asked and Clint's brow furrowed in confusion. "Dark hair, medium height, and a smile that just brightens up a room. And even though you've never seen her, she seems familiar for some reason." Clint didn't say anything as he glanced over to Natasha who was watching him as well, clearly interested in how he would answer the question.

"Are you serious?" Clint asking turning back to Tony. "Is that why I'm here? You've gone insane, and thought you'd call the old gang back together to ask ridiculous questions." Clint shook his head before turning and heading back to the door. "I'm going home."

"She called you Bart, and you called her Kat." Tony said and Clint stopped walking, and Tony felt a twinge of hope that something was clicking inside of the man.

"Barton?" it was Bruce who spoke after a few moments of silence, and the man standing in front of them hadn't turned to face them. "Are you-" Clint didn't say anything before he simply walked out of the lab. Tony growled in anger before stalking forward about to go after him, but Natasha moved to block him.

"That's not a good idea, Tony." she said and Tony huffed turning away from the woman and stalking back to his computers. "Tony, is there a sliver of a possibility that this woman just doesn't-"

"Exist?!" Tony snapped turning back to the woman. "Well yeah, Nat, right now she doesn't exist, but she did."

"Ok, fine, she did, why doesn't she exist right now?" Natasha asked walking over to the man.

"Because she-" Tony turned away, clenching his eyes closed still trying to remember that moment, that last moment his eyes saw her. "She sacrificed herself." Tony opened his eyes and turned back to Bruce and Natasha. "She sacrificed herself to save us, to save the world, to protect the stones." Tony turned away. "She was granted a gift."

"What kind of gift?" Bruce asked and Tony turned to him.

"Nemesis, um, she said for Katie's sacrifice, she was granted a wish of anything she wanted." Tony frowned a bit, once again turning away as the pieces began to fall into place.

"She wished for a world she didn't exist." Natasha said and Tony turned dark eyes to her. "Tony if this woman was real, and for her to save the world she had to leave. She didn't want us to remember her, she didn't want you to remember her. She didn't want you here, driving your self crazy trying to do the impossible." Tony didn't want to hear the words, even though some truth tugs at him. He turned around, dropping into his seat and closing his eyes.

Suddenly all the computers in the lab powered off, and everyone lifted their eyes as the lights flickered around them. Tony stood to his feet, backing up to stand near Bruce and Natasha.

"FRIDAY, what's happening?" Tony asked, but there was no response. "FRIDAY?" the computer system didn't respond, but there was a sudden flash of light that caused them all to lift their arms to shield their eyes. With the light was a sudden gust of wind, that was bitterly cold. The moment the wind stopped, Tony, Bruce and Natasha, dropped their arms, quite surprised to see someone new in the room, that none of them expected.

"Loki?" Bruce said as they all continued to stare at the raven haired god, his horned crown affixed on his head. "How—you're dead. Thanos killed you." Loki turned to the giant green beast, taking a slight step back, always nervous about being in his presence.

"Well sorry to disappoint, but I'm alive and quite frankly annoyed." Loki replies his eyes turning to Tony. "Man of Iron, you are to come with me." Tony looked at the man with wide eyes,

"Yeah, I'm good here. I mean the last time I saw you, you let aliens loose on my planet before we beat you and your brother dragged you back to your own planet in cuffs."

"Well a lot has transpired since then." Loki said with a shrug. "Why not let bygones, be bygones and come with me." Tony didn't say anything and Loki sighed. "You are in search of the mad woman, the one who’s here and yet isn't. Well I'm here to take you to her."

"You know where Katie is?" Tony asked and Loki gave a nod.

"Well no, since she's not really in the land of existence right now, but I know how we can find her." Loki said, and against all logic, Tony took a step forward, but both Bruce and Natasha reached forward, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back.

"Tony, you can't possibly be falling for this?" Bruce asked.

"Why would you do this?" Natasha asked, still warily watching the god, while her hand hovered behind her above the gun tucked into her waist band. "Why would you help us?"

"Well I wouldn't." Loki said with a shake of his head. "This really isn't even about you." Loki turned back to Tony meeting the man's eyes. "Katherine Barton." Tony's eyes widen, not expecting the sudden twinge in his stomach at hearing the name spoken out loud by someone else. "I'm here because of her, unfortunately. I owe her a debt, and part of the payment happens here. She gave me time, a place, with specific instructions to retrieve the man of iron here and take him to the beginning.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bruce asked, "How do you even know she exists when none of us do?" Loki turned to the green beast with a roll of his eyes.

"You're asking questions that I have not the answers." Loki says. "What you saw...Thanos holding me at my neck, snapping it and killing me. It was all an illusion." the God of Mischief smiled. "I think I may have rubbed off on her more than I thought." he turned back to Tony as a portal slowly began growing behind him. "If you wish to get the answers you seek, then you will follow me." and with that Loki turned, stepping through the glowing portal. Tony stood there actually unsure of what the do. Seeing Loki only brought him back to that moment where he's flying into a portal in the sky before just falling. He suddenly pictured his kitten waiting on the other side and soon the choice was clear.

"What the hell?" it was Clint who came back to the lab not really expecting to see the portal. He walked over to stand beside Natasha who was still staring at Tony. "What's going on?"

"Well in the minutes since you were last here, Loki showed up, told Tony he could bring him to this apparent Katherine Barton." Natasha said, and Clint's eyes went wide as he looked back over to the portal. "Tony just has to step into that thing. And now I'm attempting to try to knock him out before he does something stupid." The woman began inching toward Tony who she could see stepping closer to the portal. When she was close enough, she quickly grabbed his arms and pulled him back.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" Tony snapped struggling to pull himself free from the oddly strong woman.

"I'm sorry Tony, but right now I'm saving you from your own stupidity." Natasha continued to pull him back. "You just-"

"Clint, no, wait!" Bruce called and they all stopped and looked over to see Clint standing in front of the portal. He glanced over to Natasha who he could see was confused by the move. The man simply shrugged before throwing caution to the wind and stepping through. Tony felt Natasha's grasp loosen and used the moment to pull free and run inside the portal as well, and the moment he did, it simply closed as if it were never there. Bruce and Natasha both stared into the spot, neither quite believing what just happened. They didn't turn at the sound of the lab door opening, or even the sound of footsteps.

"Guys?" Bruce was the first one to break out of his shock and turn to the familiar voice of Sam Wilson who was standing beside Bucky.

"From the looks on your faces, I'd say we just missed something." Bucky says looking from Bruce to Natasha. He glanced back to Sam who just shrugged his shoulders.


	15. Chapter 15

Tony doesn't think he's ever seen tumbleweed in real life, and yet as he standing on the dirt path, a huge ball of the stuff just blows right past him. He lifts his eyes to Clint whose eyes are scanning the area. It looked like they were on some type of farm, but there were no crops, all the grass around them was brown, and the house in front of them was completely charred as if it had gone up in flames.

"Where's Loki?" Clint asks, turning to Tony. "You said he was here." Tony looked at the man for a moment before walking over. "Well was he here?"

"Why are you here?" Tony asked. "I had the feeling from our last conversation, you'd be hightailing it back to your own little farm life." Clint shook his head before turning away. "You're curious about all of this, aren't you? You want to see her." Clint didn't say anything before he just turned and walked off. Tony shook his head before stalking after him. "Do you remember her?"

"No," Clint replied and Tony furrowed his brow before rushing to catch up.

"Then why are you here?" Tony asked again, and the archer still didn't answer the question and because Tony couldn't take the silence anymore, be quickened his step to block the man. "Just say it." Clint looked at the man, suddenly remembering just how annoying he could be.

"You said she called me Bart, and I called her Kat." Clint said with a shake of his head. "It's just I-" he turned back to Tony. "I've been having these weird dreams, about this woman who I've never seen before, and she calls me Bart, and when she does I don't hate it."

"What happens in these dreams?" Tony asks hoping they could help them figure out what they should do.

"Sometimes she's there in times and places she just wasn't. Like the whole fight in New York, she was standing there with us, fighting with us." Clint turned away as the dreams he's never talked about out loud finally comes out of his mouth. "Or sometimes we're..."

"You're what?" Tony asks and Clint turns to him with a looks that Tony understands. "Oh. I assume you've never told anyone about this?"

"How could I? I thought they were just dreams. Laura knew they were getting to me, but I couldn't actually tell her about them." Clint once again begins looking around. "How do you tell your wife you're having dreams about another woman. I don't know, it was just something about them that felt so..."

"Real?" Tony said, and Clint turned to him and gave a nod. "Well I think that's because they were. She was here. She was my best friend and she was your wife and I think all of this is happening because we're supposed to bring her back."

"And what happens then, Tony?" Clint asks turning back to the man. "What if the lives we have now were only possible if she wasn't here? What will bringing her back do? My wife, my kids-" he shook his head unknowingly making Tony ask himself the questions he hadn't thought about. What if bringing Katie back somehow would undo his life with Pepper, and with Morgan? Was he really willing to risk that?

Natasha found herself standing at a total loss of what to do next. Presumed dead Loki appeared and now Tony and Clint had disappeared and she had no idea where they were.

"Just so I got this straight, Tony rallied the team because he believes that we need to bring back some woman who none of us remember, except for him and before we left, he and Clint disappeared into some sort of portal to follow Loki, the alien we all thought was dead?" Sam looked between Bruce and Natasha who simply gave a nod. "That's just perfect. Should we be worried that the bastard who once tried to take over the world just kidnapped two avengers?"

"He didn't kidnap them." Natasha said with a shake of her head. "They followed him willingly. He told them they'd find the answers they were looking for."

"About the woman who doesn't exist?" Sam asked,

"About the woman who could possibly exist that we might not remember." Bruce said, and Natasha turned to him with a quirked brow. "I'm just saying with everything I've seen and heard, we can't just throw out the possibility that Tony might be right."

"We can't, but we have no way of proving anything." Natasha replied before turning and stalking onto the elevator. "I need a moment."

Natasha once again found herself outside, the sky now a shade of orange as the sun sets. She didn't think she'd have to be in this position again. The person who has to make the next move of attack. Her eyes once again lifted to the sky.

"Sparrow." she muttered closing her eyes and really letting the name mull about in her brain.

 _"Natasha, long time no see. Still a bitch?_ "

Natasha's eyes snapped open and she dropped her eyes as she tilted her head.

"Still a brat?" Natasha spoke, her hand coming to her mouth in shock.

"Nat, you ok?" a voice spoke from behind her and and the woman turned to see Bruce who'd somehow snuck up on her.

"Bruce, I-" the woman turned away, her eyes once again glancing up to the sky. "I think-" she dropped her eyes back to the hulk. "Something is wrong."

Tony and Clint finally stopped searching. There was no one here, and now it felt as if this was all just some trick or trap. Clint stood searching for a road or land marker that will help him find away out of here. Tony stood looking up to the dilapidated house.

"Why do I know this house?" Tony spoke out loud and Clint glanced over to the man and just rolled his eyes. Clint was starting to regret walking into the unknown portal to nowhere and now he was stuck with the most annoying person on the planet. Tony frowned as he stepped closer to the house, walking up the steps of the porch.

"Stark, don't!" Clint called and Tony looked over to him in confusion. "That place isn't safe."

"You sound like you care, Big Bird?"

"For Pepper, and your kid, not you." Clint says before pointing to the house. "That house looks like it's one strong wind away from becoming firewood." Clint turned away once again letting his eyes search the area. "Look I'm going to go see if there's like people anywhere around, did you want-" Clint turned back around just as Tony walked into the house and he sighed. "Stark!" Clint quickly ran up the steps, walking through the door immediately stopping. Clint's eyes looked over the inside of the house that didn't look like it had been touched by fire at all.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that something isn't right." Tony says looking over the inside of the house as well before his eyes noticed a picture hanging on the wall. He walked over to get a better look, and the moment he did, he let out a huff before turning to Clint. "I think I remember why this house seems so familiar." Clint looked over to the man in confusion and Tony just nudged his head to the lone picture of the wall. Clint walked over and his eyes went wide at the picture which was a newspaper clipping of a young girl at a science fair. She was smiling widely as she held up a first place trophy.

"I had to practically plead with my dad not to make us move because of that stupid science fair." Clint and Tony both felt a twinge of nervousness creep up their spine. It was that voice. That voice that neither expected and yet it grabbed a hold of something inside of them. It was Clint who turned to face her first, and his breath seemed to hitch when his eyes saw her. The woman who only lived in his dreams was standing here in front of him. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was wearing a white and yellow polka dot dress, her hair in soft curls that fell lazily over her shoulders. She met his eyes and smiled widely. "Hi Bart." she glanced over to Tony and sighed. He still hadn't worked up the courage to finally turn to face her. He'd been so sure that she was real, that he was right and yet the twinge of doubt had settled in his gut and he ignored it or at least he tried. "You know you went through an awful lot of trouble to find me Iron Ass, might as well look at me." Tony let out a deep breath before finally turning, finally looking at the woman he knew was real. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. "Hi Mr. Stark."

Natasha was confused. Her brain felt strange if that made sense. Her and the rest of the team stood in one of the common areas in the facility in a very brutal silence. Natasha kept her eyes out the window because it wasn't stopping. Images of this woman with dark hair who she didn't recognize and yet she felt was important.

"Nat-" Bruce was bold enough to finally cut the tension in the room. They all waited for Natasha to explain her sentiment that "something was wrong" and yet when they all gathered, she was silent. "What's happening?"

"Sparrow." Natasha said, suddenly memories of a the woman dressed as a SHEILD cadet struck her. "She worked for SHIELD. She was a lab tech, but she was also something else." Natasha glanced over to Bruce, that perplexed look still on her face because even though the words were coming out of her mouth, she just couldn't fully believe them.

"Are you saying you remember this woman Tony was talking about?" Bruce asked and Natasha stared at him for a moment before giving a subtle nod. "Bruce glanced over to Sam who simply shrugged before turning to Wanda who continued to stare over to Natasha before walking over to the woman. "Wanda, could you-" Bruce started as Wanda stepped in front of Natasha.

"Do you mind?" Wanda asked, and Natasha looked unsure for a moment, but if any of this could make sense, then she would do anything.

"Do it." Natasha said, and Wanda lifted her hands on either side of the woman's head, and red swirls of light shot from her fingers into Natasha's head and both woman gasped as they're both forced from the moment.

_Natasha stalked into SHIELD's training room, the cadets standing in line watching her. Her eyes trail down the line to a few familiar faces, and land on a couple of people she wished weren't there. The brains, they'd took to calling them. They were the people who were only required to be there for a class or two._

_"I am here to make sure you all are combat ready." Natasha announced as she walked passed each cadet, making sure to look them each in the eyes. "And when you leave this gym you will be ready."_

_"This is pointless." she heard from further down the line. She didn't need to ask who said it, because she already knew. Natasha turned and walked down the line, stepping in front of the leader of the brainiacs._

_"Did you say something cadet?" Natasha asked stepping dangerously close to the woman. It was an intimidation tactic she'd used often._

_"I said this is pointless." Katie replied before looking to the man and woman to her right. "We're not going to be field agents, so this extreme judo crap is totally unnecessary."_

_"What you find unnecessary, the director finds imperative." Natasha replied. "And I agree with him. You see the fight doesn't stop with the field agents, and none of our enemies will think twice about hurting a computer geek, so this is SHIELD giving you a fighting chance, so shut up and take it."_

Natasha pulled back from Wanda's grasp with wide eyes. Wanda looked back in confusion as the guys looked on waiting for someone to say something.

"Was that her?" Wanda asked, and Natasha didn't say anything. She took in a deep breath before taking a step toward Wanda.

"Lets go again."

"Nat-" Bruce took a step forward and Natasha looked over to him. "Are you sure?"

"Not really, but something is definitely not right because I just saw something that doesn't make sense." she turned back to Wanda and gave the woman a nod. Wanda one again lifted her hands, and just as before they were pulled from the moment.

Natasha and Wanda found themselves standing in a small house. Wanda walked over, peeking out of the window to see a beach just outside.

"Do you know this place?" Wanda asked turning back to Natasha who seemed stuck. She walked over to the Natasha to see what she was staring at and the moment she saw the picture above the fireplace she realized what had her so shocked. It was a picture of Clint, and a dark haired woman both smiling. He was dressed in a suit and she was wearing a white dress. There was voice that started off low, muffled and both women shared a look before turning and finally noticing there standing was, Natasha, Clint and Rick.

_"Who does?" Clint asked. "Coulson?"_

_"Coulson's the director of an "in construction" agency at the moment. He's doesn't have nearly enough resources to pull something like this off. He's making moves, but he's not the only one."_

_"So who's running the show now?"_

_"Honestly, I don't know." Natasha replied. "Fury hasn't been seen or heard of since the Garrett take down." she looked over Mason. "I've been forced with partnering with this poor excuse for a human being."_

_"Aw, Widow," Mason sighed placing his hands above his heart. "I love you too." Natasha shakes her head and turns back to Clint._

_"We get orders of possible HYDRA members still out there. Yesterday we got a message about a rescue and retrieval. When I got the location I knew your little love bubble was about to be popped." she glanced toward the stairs. "There's a plane that will be here in thirty, you should go deal with that." Clint followed her eyes to the stairs and scoffed. "What?"_

_"That-" he stressed gesturing to the stairs. "-is my wife Nat." Clint said before turning and heading up the stairs._

"She's his wife?" Wanda asked, turning back to Natasha who stared at the scene, There she was, standing there talking to Clint, talking to Rick and yet she had no memory of this moment ever happening. "You don't remember any of this?" Natasha didn't say anything for a moment, because something was happening.

"We were sent here to protect them." Natasha said still watching. "She—Sparrow was a target because of her mother. At the time we didn't know why." Natasha turned looking back to the picture hanging above the fireplace. "They disappeared, got married, and-" Natasha dropped her eyes. "She was pregnant." she turned back to Wanda. "We didn't know it at the time, but she was pregnant with Natalia and-" the scene around them began shifting and both women lifted their heads only to find themselves in the old Avengers tower. They turned at the voices, now to see Tony, Steve, Sam, Rhodey, Natasha, and Katie.

_"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty." Tony says._

_"You're saying they'll come for me?" Wanda asks, and they glance over to her. The explosion in Lagos at her hands was still weighing on her._

_"If they come for you, then they come for us, and I don't think that's a fight they want." Katie replied turning back to Tony. "And you don't fall on your knees to big brother government telling you they'll stick your head in the toilet if you don't let them copy your homework."_

_"Sometimes you have to grow up. This is me growing up and realizing the whole honey with bees theory may actually make sense."_

_"Except we don't need to catch bees." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "We need to protect the world without the puppet strings."_

Wanda dropped her hands, and they found themselves back in the lab. Both women still staring at each other.

"So, what happened?" Sam asked.

"Nat?" Bruce looked at the woman who glanced over to him and simply gave a nod. "Are you sure?"

"I'm not sure about anything right now, but I saw her face, heard her voice, and she-" Natasha chuckled before looking back over Bruce. "She's a smart ass. But she's a smart, smart ass which annoyed the hell out of me. But apparently made Barton fall in love with her."

"So she is-"

"His wife, yeah." Natasha turned away because the new memories were clashing with old ones, and she lifted her hand to her head, stumbling slightly,

"Hey," Sam caught her arm before rolling over a chair to sit. "You ok?" they all gathered around the woman who lifted her eyes at the sound of the elevator. They all turned, no one quite expecting the person standing there.

"Vis?" Wanda took a step forward as Vision stepped off the elevator. "How-" he walked over smiling down to her and she just shook her head no longer caring how this was happening before she closed the distance between them and tossed her arms around him in a hug.

"Vision, how are you alive right now?" Bruce asked, and Vision looked up to the team and tilted his head.

"I don't think I was ever dead, just—" he smiled at the thought. "Suppressed." He turned back to the eyes on him and knew they'd prefer a more detailed explanation, but he's also sure they'd never understand the truth.

"We saw Thanos, he took the stone and then he-" Wanda placed a hand on the being's chest and shook her head at the memory.

"No-" It was Natasha who spoke, and their eyes turned to her seeing just how confused she was at her own words. "Sparrow, she-" she turned looking across the room to Vision who watched as she finally realized the truth. "She took the stones from Thanos before he could do any damage, there was no snap there-" she looked over to Bruce who turned way, that look of confusion washing over his face as well as memories flooded him. "Tony was right."

"What do we do now?" Sam asked, and they all turned to Vision who they assumed knew more than what he was letting on.

"Oh, we wait," he replied before glancing down to Wanda. "It's all being fixed as we speak."

Tony just needed to look at her for a moment. Needed to make this moment real, and when he finally came back to the moment, he smiled.

"Kitten, good to see you. I mean we could've gone without all the cloak and dagger, and that whole Loki fiasco, but we can get into that later." he began walking toward her, but she took a step back and held out a hand in front of her to stop him.

"Tony, don't." she said before glancing over to Clint who hadn't said a word. She turned back to Tony and smiled. "Let's just have this moment."

"What are you talking about? I'm here to bring you home, to make everyone remember you, like you knew I would." Tony said, and Katie once again looked over to Clint wanting him so badly to just say something already. "Hey Kitten, this was a rescue mission." she turned back to Tony. "I'm not leaving this house without you."

"Except we don't know what that would mean." Katie says looking over to the man. "For your life with Pepper, and Morgan-" she turned to Clint. "And your life with Laura." Clint dropped his eyes and Katie shook her head. "Don't-" he looked back over to her. "You have absolutely nothing to feel guilty for." she smiled at him. "I wanted you to smile and to be happy." she looked back to Tony. "I wanted you to experience all of the moments you never thought you would have." she sighed. "Tony I don't know why you remember me. I can honestly say that you remembering me has caused some unexpected phenomenon that was definitely not supposed to happen."

"Loki said he was given a time and a place that I would be able to find you." Tony said looking over to the woman. "If you didn't send him, then who did?" Katie looked over to her friend in confusion before turning away. She shook her head before turning back to the men.

"I don't know. But what I do know is that we have right now. This moment and when you walk out that door, you'll be able to live your lives again."

"You mean we'll forget you again?"Tony asked and Katie nodded. "That's not happening."

"It has to, because if it doesn't then everything I've done was for nothing."

"And what did you do?" Clint spoke and Katie turned to him. "What did you do Kat?" Katie dropped her eyes from his and he took a step forward, and she once again quickly backed away. "What the hell did you do Kat?!" she lifted her eyes back to his, and he could see the tears forming and he shook his head.

"I accepted who I was and what I was created for." she looked from Clint before turning to Tony. "You see our lives intertwining was never random." she looked back to Clint and smiled. "It was fate. I was meant to meet you and fall in love." she turned to Tony. "I was meant to meet you and find a best friend. I was meant to be an Avenger." she turned and walked over to sit on the steps that lead to the second level of the house. She looked over to the two men and just shrugged. "I was meant to be the heart that beats for the worlds both near and far. Someone like Thanos was destined to pop up at some point, and I was the contingency plan. Well Nemesis was, I was just the-" she dropped her eyes and shook her head. "I was the seventh stone. The only vessel that Nemesis could inhabit to beat anyone who tried taking control of the stones." she looked back up to the men before looking over to Clint. "I chose to sacrifice myself for you, for our daughter, for your future-" she looked over to Tony and smiled. "And I would do it again in a heart beat."

"And you would be an idiot!" Tony snapped before turning his back to the woman. He slid his hand over his eyes before turning back to the woman. "We would've beat him!"

"I know." Katie replied. "But he would've beat you first. There would've been years of pain and heartache before you all came back together to finally beat him. In the end, Thanos would be gone, but so would someone else." she shook her head. "Someone who just couldn't be gone, and so I made the choice."

"It wasn't a choice Kat, it was a cop out." Clint says walking over to the woman. She stood, about to flee, but he was quicker, sliding a hand around her waist, and pulling her to him.

"Bart, wait, don't-" she tried to pull out of his grasp, but he wasn't letting her go. Her eyes turned to his and he looked back to her. "Bart, just think about what you're doing." she continued trying to tug out of his arms. "If you don't let me go-" she turned back to his eyes. "Bart, if you keep me here, you're risking the lives you have here. The lives I was not a part of. Laura, your kids-" she placed her hands on the sides of his face. "Let me go, Bart." she saw the reluctance in his eyes, the fear, but she also felt his grasp loosen. "It's ok, Bart you can let me go."

"Don't do it Barton!" Tony says and Katie turns to him with wide eyes. "How I see it, I remember for a reason, and that reason is because we were meant to bring you back."

"Tony, no-"

"Yes, because someone out there knows that you were one of the people in my life that I would go to war for, that I'd sacrifice the world for." Tony walked over and looked at the woman before placing a hand to her arm and that's when everything stopped.

Just a few feet away, sparks suddenly appeared that expanded into a doorway. Stephen Strange stepped through that door, suddenly coming to a halt as his eyes looked over to where Tony and Clint stood, with a woman in their grasp. He also noticed how they all seemed to be frozen in place.

"Great, you're here." a voice spoke from behind the man. He turned, with a furrowed brow to see the same woman. He turned back to Tony and Clint, and the woman between them. "It's an illusion. I didn't know I could do that." she shook her head and turned back to Stephen. "You have to get them out of here. The moment they leave, they will forget again, and so will you." Stephen turned back to the woman, before walking over. "Stephen you know this can't happen."

"I know that if an all powerful being such as Nemesis who possesses, the Ego stone makes a person disappear from all of existence, then they should stay that way, and yet-" he stopped right in front of her, his eyes looking to her as memories of a life that wasn't there before suddenly came flooding back to him. Katie shook her head before stalking away.

"I made a choice." she said whipping back around to face him. "I gave this up. There's no way-"

"Why do you think you were chosen?" Stephen asked. "Why do you think that out of the billions of people on this planet, and probably a couple of more trillion beings on the neighboring planets, that you were chosen to save everyone?"

"It doesn't matter why."

"It does, you just refuse to acknowledge the fact that it was your selflessness, your strength, your fearlessness, it was you. You were only given the choice to see what you would choose, but there was never any actual deal. Nemesis was going to stop Thanos whether you agreed or not." Katie stared at the man with a furrowed brow before looking up to the ceiling.

"If what you're saying is true, why now?" she looked back to the man. "Five years I had to watch the world spin without me, I had to watch my husband and my daughter live without knowing who I was. So why now?"

"I was waiting for you to finally stop being so damn selfless." a voice spoke and both Katie and Stephen turned with wide eyes as they saw the woman who looked exactly like Katie except her skin was a shade of purple and her eyes glowed yellow. "I was waiting for you to demand to be returned back to your life. I thought seeing your friends and family move on in lives without you would be so torturous-" the being tilted her head as she looked at Katie. "Which it was. I could feel your heartache for all five years, and yet you just watched silently." the being took a step toward Katie. "I am infinite and yet there are things that still surprise me and I love to be surprised. They somehow found me a host whose heart beats for the world." the being leaned into Katie. "And the worlds still need that heart." Katie frowned slightly as she realized what the being was saying. "So little human girl, you ready to return back to your life?" Katie turned away, looking over to Clint and Tony who were still frozen in place.

"They have lives, they all have lives and I can't-" she turned back to Nemesis. "I won't take that away from them."

"You know I can see right through the selfless act, right?" the being said taking a step toward the woman. "You think it masks your fear, but it doesn't. So this is it little human girl. No more fear, no more running, it's time for you to finally get what you deserve."

Katie stood silently, her eyes still looking over to Clint and Tony and she felt tears pool in her eyes as she realized what this moment was. She turned back to Nemesis a smile slow curling at her lips.

"OK, what do I have to-" with a snap of the being's finger, everything changed.


	16. Chapter 16

**EPILOGUE**

* * *

Someone was pinching his nose. Tony cracked open one eye, spotting the culprit and she just giggled before releasing him.

"Wake up daddy!"

Tony opened his eyes, and he slightly frowned at the child staring back to him before he quickly sat up looking over to her, before glancing over to a sleeping Pepper.

"Pep?"

"I can't hear you because I'm still sleeping." Pepper muttered before rolling over and nuzzling her cheek against her pillow. "Now, go feed your daughter." Tony's furrowed brow turned back to Morgan who just giggled before running out of the room. Tony turned away, letting a hand slide across his face because he's not completely sure what just happened. One minute he was standing in that house, looking at...wait.

"Hey Pep,"

"You're not getting out of this, now go before she attempts to make her own breakfast." Pepper said, kicking his leg to push him out of the bed. He huffed, before tossing the covers and standing from the bed before heading for the kitchen.

Soon Tony sat staring down to his daughter who happily ate her cereal and he couldn't help the smile that came to his face. Soon she stopped and looked up to him with a furrowed brow.

"You're staring daddy."

"I know I'm staring. I'm sitting here marveling at my greatest creation." the man said before standing to his feet and walking over to grab a mug for his coffee. It wasn't until he was near the sink did his eyes just so happened to glance out the window. And the moment he did, a smile curled at his lips. "Hey, light of my life," the girl lifted her head and looked over to him as he pointed outside. "There's a man asleep outside in a hammock and-" before he could even finish the sentence the girl was laughing and he smiled. "Something funny?"

"Daddy, you made uncle Mattie sleep outside until he found Mr. Bunny." Morgan said and Tony chuckled before turning back to look at the window.

Matthew felt someone watching him and so he cracked opened one eye to see the annoying face of the man who forced him to sleep in this stupid hammock.

"That damn bunny is in the house." Matthew muttered as he turned about to nod back off asleep. "And it wasn't even that bad out here." Matthew expected some sort of annoying remark because it was the Tony Stark way, and yet nothing and so he opened his eyes and looked over to see the man still staring at him. "You're being creepy, what?" Tony just shook his head, but that smile was still on his face.

"Just a strange dream about your sister." Tony said and he looked down to the confused look on Matt's face and suddenly he became worried.

"I hope you didn't tell your wife you're dreaming about Rinny, because if you did, then I'm sure you'll soon have a hammock out here beside me." Matthew said, and Tony's smile only got wider. "Dude, what's with you, you're being weird."

"You have no idea, Mattie." Tony said before turning and heading for the house, before stopping and glancing over to the man. "And you can't hide out here anymore. Go home to your wife and admit whatever dumbass thing you did or said was wrong and apologize."

It was just a nightmare. A terrible, stupid nightmare that Tony was glad he had woken up from. Pepper eyed him suspiciously at his sudden chipper mood. He was humming as he got dressed and so she finally decided to ask him.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" she asked, and the man smiled as he stopped his fingers on his buttons and turned to his wife. He inched toward her, and she knew that look in his eyes. "Tony Stark, don't you even-" he scooped her up in his arms and she squealed with laughter as he pushed them onto the bed. Tony hovered above her for a moment and she placed a hand on his cheek. "Seriously Tony, what's going on?"

"I'm alive. I have a drop dead gorgeous wife, a miniature, adorable genius of a daughter." he brought his lips to hers. "I'm just happy. Let me be happy."

"Ok," she smiled wrapping her arms around him as his lips once again inched toward hers. "Just make sure we're not late. I would like for us to be on time for once in our lives." Tony paused and pulled himself back.

" Late for-"

"Now you're really being weird, because I know you didn't forget about the party." Pepper says still eyeing the man. Tony turned away, closing his eyes and a smile curled on his lips. "Tony-"

"Of course I didn't forget. It's her birthday!" he looked back down to Pepper's eyes as he lips once again neared hers. "We won't be late."

They were late. It wasn't Tony's fault though. It was that damn bunny that once again disappeared and Morgan wouldn't let them leave before they found him. Tony found the bunny under a bush behind the house. Morgan's eyes lit up the moment he walked over and she saw the bunny in his hands. The way she looked at him, Tony had never felt more like a hero in his entire life and he wasn't even wearing the suit.

The drive wasn't too long since the house they were going to was only about ten minutes away. Tony hummed as he drove and Pepper once again glanced over to him.

"I think I should lay down the ground rules now before we all get out of the car." she said and Tony looked over to her with a quirked brow. She looked over her shoulder to her daughter in the backseat. "You will be on your best behavior because we will not have a repeat of what happened the last time."

"That wasn't my fault! CJ dared me and daddy says Starks never turn away from a challenge." Pepper turned her eyes to Tony who kept his eyes on the road ignoring the look.

"There will be no small explosions today." Pepper says sweetly to her daughter. "Or mommy will have to send you to Grandma's for the summer." Pepper wanted to laugh at the look of horror that shown on her daughter's face. She looked just like her father. "And you, mister-" she turned to Tony who glanced over to her with a look of innocence. "We will go home at before the next sunrise."

"I say we play it by ear Pep." Tony says turning onto the path toward the house. The place was already filled with people, and music playing from somewhere. "Barton is a dead man."

"I can't believe he invited all of these people. She's going to kill him." Pepper says laughing as Tony pulled the car to a stop. The moment the car was off, Pepper turned to give her daughter one last warning, but the girl was already out and running off. She sighed, before turning back to Tony about to warn him, but he too was about to step out of the car. He stopped and glanced over to her. "Tony-"

"Play it by ear, honey." he says slowly stepping out of the car as her eyes do that scary stare she's gotten so good at. She just shakes her head as he steps out of the car.

Tony walked into the house without knocking. He can't remember the last time he knocked on this door. The house smelled of grilled foods and something else he couldn't decipher. He glanced around the house, not seeing anyone immediately before heading for the steps.

"She's not up there." called a voice that made Tony stop. He turned to see Clint walking from the kitchen, beer in hand, barbecue fork in the other. "Have I told you how much I hate how comfortable you are casually strolling strolling into my house and up to my bedroom to find my wife."

"I don't think you have." Tony says walking back down the steps and over to the man, and there's a bit of an awkward silence Tony really wants to fill but he's not sure he should. "So...you're still alive?"

"I won't be when everyone leaves." Clint laughs as he takes a sip from his bottle. "She woke up from a nap to find people already rolling in. She's going to have a good time. I mean if she can come out of hiding."

"Where-" Clint pointed a thumb behind him and Tony glanced over to a door and his eyes widened. "It's finished?" Clint laughed with a shake of his head. "She didn't-" Tony smiles before looking over to the man. "I'll get her out of hiding."

"You won't, but I'll send your better half down when it's time to eat." Clint says before walking toward the front door, but he stops and Tony does the same as the two men look back to each other. "Hey Stark-" Clint drops his head for a moment as if he's not sure of what he wants to say. Honestly he isn't.

"Nightmare's over, Legolas." Tony says and Clint looks back up to the man. "She's back." neither was quite sure the event that plagued their dreams the night before was real or what, but both found relief in those two words.

"Right, well make sure she's sitting and nothing extreme." Clint says knowing he'd be better off talking to a wall at this point.

"Yeah, sure thing." Tony mutters already rushing off. The house was big, so he had to continue down a hall and then another before he appeared outside of a door. A smiled curled at his lips when he reached for the handle, but it was locked. "How-" he looked around the door before spotting the keypad. The man quirked a brow.

"May I be of assistance sir?" A voice spoke and Tony lift his head glancing around for the source. He expected to see Vision lurking around because that voice belong to him and...wait.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked.

"Actually my name is J2." the system spoke and Tony couldn't help but laugh. He actually missed his old buddy JARVIS.

"So, yeah, J2, if you didn't mind letting me in." Tony says turning back to the door. Tony watched as a holographic keyboard appeared above the one installed in the wall and Tony just shook his head. "She's so paranoid." there was a beep and then a click, to which Tony grabbed the nob and this time when he turned it, the door opened. Tony couldn't contain his giddiness as he walked inside. This place had been under construction for months and she refused all of his input. He wasn't even allowed down here. And he's tried, numerous times, but she always catches him. He stops for a moment and smiles as memories of the here and now push the nightmares of what could've been further and further out of his mind.

"You're going to have an big head about all of this." her voice filtered from somewhere. He continued down the steps, only now noticing now familiar this stairwell seemed. "You're going to think this song is about you, because you're so vain." he laughed when he finally reached the bottom of the steps to another door, this one made of glass. He saw her on the other side, arms folded over her chest as she looks at him. His hand reaches out, mindlessly entering the code he'd entered hundreds of times, and the smile on his face widened the moment the door clicked open. He doesn't say anything when he walks in, his eyes scanning over the room and he couldn't quite believe it. It looked like very good replica of his Malibu workshop. She was right. He was going to have a big head about this. He turned back to her, and she could tell from the smug look on his face what he was thinking.

"This is kind of weird. Like fan-girl stalker weird." Tony says walking around a bit more. "Am I going to find a off brand version of Dum-E and U around here?" he glanced around a bit as if they would suddenly appear. He looked over to her and she just shook her head and so he walked over, closing the distance between them. "You know, I think I'm flattered. Happy Birthday, Kitten." she rolls her eyes before walking over to stand beside him.

"Thank you, Iron Ass." She says. "J2, show me the backyard." soon a large holographic screen appeared on the wall showing her the backyard and she groaned before dropping her head to Tony's shoulder. "I'm going to kill that man. He knows I don't like parties." Tony chuckled bringing an arm around her and placing a kiss to the top of her head. "You didn't know he was going to do this, did you, because if you did and didn't warn me-"

"Trust me, Kitten, Barton wasn't looking for birthday party advice from me." he said, once again letting his eyes scan over the place and it really was like he'd stepped through some wormhole back in time. He smiled and Katie looked up to his face and she just knew what he was thinking. "What made you pay homage to me?" he looked down to her and she let out a snort. "Hey I'm still flattered."

"Like I said before, this has absolutely nothing to do with you." she said pulling from his grasp and walking over to sit at her desk. He looked over to see her let out a heavy sigh as she sits and he narrows his eyes before walking over to sit at the desk on the other side of her.

"Fine, then tell me why." he says leaning back in his chair as he looked over to her.

"I-" her words got caught in her throat at the sudden kick to her midsection, and she groaned as she sat back in her seat.

"Are you-" Tony quickly sat from his seat and hurried to her side.

"Tony, I'm fine, I-" she groaned again and Tony's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You can not be this damn high strung. Geez, just sit down, I'm fine."

"No you're like ridiculously pregnant and-"

"And the baby is just giving me birthday kicks to my kidney. Sit down please!" she snapped and he rolled his eyes before walking back over to sit, but he watched her warily. "Now as I was saying before, I would never admit this to your face, but I liked it here." she shook her head. "Back in Malibu, your weird workshop-" she looked over to the man and smiled. "My weird blackmailer who gave me the key to his kingdom and let me run loose."

"You keep saying blackmail, but how I remember it-" she reached into a drawer beside her and plucked out a rubber-band ball and tossed it at him. "Ow! Hey! No throwing things at the face!" he pointed a finger toward the woman. "The truth is that if you didn't want to come back to Malibu with me, there was nothing to stop you from leaving."

"The picture-"

"And you broke my firewall with a Red Bull and some crap PC. You could've had that picture if you put your mind to it." he said and Katie looked at him for a moment silently sitting back in her seat as she stared at him. "Ok, so that time I interrupted you and I'm sorry. Please continue-" she smirked and turned away because she knew he was right. He knew she knew he was right, but it would just be a silent understanding between the two of them. She opened her mouth to continue, but the interruptions just continued.

"Honey?" Bart's voice sounded from somewhere, and Tony whipped his head around wildly to find the source. "Do you think you're going to come up any time soon? I mean this is your birthday party and everyone did come here to see you." Katie lifted her head and reached forward and typing a few keys on the keyboard in front of her, and soon an image out side of the workshop's door appeared where they could see Clint. "Dear-"

"You knew I wouldn't like a party with all of these people who I barely even know."

"You know everyone here!" he was silently for a moment. "They're old friends-"

"Clint Barton." Katie said and Tony watch in amusement as the archer stiffened his wife's use of his whole name.

"Clear 'em out. Read you loud and clear. But we still have a crap load of food and-"

"Clint Barton!" she says and Tony actually laughs when he sees Clint jump at her voice. "A party is fine, but I'm at the point in this pregnancy where I don't want to fake smile, or have pointless conversations with people I don't really care for. If I come to that party, I'm going to hit someone. That's not the type of example I want to set for my children." Clint dropped his head on the door and Katie smiled as she watched him, before turning to Tony who just shook her head. "I'll be up soon Bart." he lifted his head with a quirked brow. "You don't have to send anyone home, but when I come up, you stay at my side the entire time."

"That was the plan anyway, Babe." he smiled before turning to leave, but he stopped and came back to the door. "You should probably hurry, uh, CJ and Morgan have a look."

"What kind of look?" she frowned and looked over to Tony who slid a hand over his face.

"I don't know, but I don't like it. I'm going to get the fire extinguisher just in case." He says with a nod before walking away.

Katie looked over to Tony who was laughing and she couldn't help but smile.

"What?"

"It's us." he says and Katie looks over to him in confusion. "Your son, my daughter, it's the next generation of us." he continued to laugh and Katie just couldn't stop herself from lightly chuckling as well. "I've already got an account for the bail money they're going to need." she shook her head when she heard the sudden sound of silent giggling from the corner of the room. Tony watched her with a quirked brow, and she simply pointed to that corner and Tony stood to his feet and walked over. There was a hall toward that corner, and the moment he turned, he stopped looking down to the brown eyes of someone he'd also been dying to see since he arrived.

"You got a squatter." Tony says and the girl sitting in front of him rolls her eyes as she stands to her feet. "And she now rolls her eyes at my jokes! What have you done to my protege?" Katie's leaning as far back as she could to see who he was talking about. She heard the foot steps before the child turned the corner.

"Tai, I thought you were helping your dad with the party?" Natalia looked at her mother with a shake of her head and Katie just gave a snort in response before seeing Tony sneak behind the girl and lift her from her feet, tickling her into a fit of laughter.

"Look whose not too cool to be ticklish!" Tony says still grasping the squirming girl in his arms.

"Fine!" she says trying to breathe and laugh at the same time. "You're cool! You're cool!" Tony finally places the girl on her feet and she glares up to him, trying to hold back a smile. "That was low, even for you." she shook her head before walking over to hop up on the desk in front of her mother.

"You know kid, I remember a time when you thought I was the sun and the moon. You even liked me more than your dear old dad." Tony says walking over to sit, only to be struck with two glares from faces that looked freakishly identical. " Don't do that, it scares me when you do that." Natalia turns back to her mother.

"None of my friends could come and the only kids here are the babies."

"Morgan and your brother aren't babies, they-"

"They're babies with big brains. They're weird, and I'd much rather hang out down here." Tai says before slipping a phone from her pocket and leaning her back to the desk. Katie looked over to Tony who looked down to the girl before lifting his eyes to Katie.

"She doesn't like parties, or science-" Tony says with a furrowed brow. "Are you sure she's your daughter?" Katie shook her head at the man before looking down to her daughter. "Maybe there was some sort of mix up on that helicarrier?"

"Oh, no she's mine. She just loves hanging out with her godmother." Katie says before looking back over to Tony. "Before someone else interrupts me, what I was saying before, this place was the beginning. Forget everything that happened before with adoptive parents and shady government agencies, for me this is where it began." she glanced over to Natalia before glancing back over to the man who returned the smile.

"Ditto," he replied leaning further back in his seat, his eyes still on the woman across from him.

"Hey Uncle Tony, could I borrow your jet?" Natalia suddenly asked looking over to the man who perked up at the request. "There's this concert in Vancouver that's totally trending right now."

"Anyone I know performing, because I'm down if-"

"No," Katie says pushing herself to her feet. She looked down to her daughter. "How many times do I have to tell you not to ask for his jet?" she looked over to Tony. "And how many times do I have to tell you to stop appeasing her."

"She's my god daughter, if I can't shower her with the finer things in life, then what's the point of living?"

"Yeah mom," Natalia said sitting up and turning to Katie, hating that look she was giving her. It was a look she knows Tony taught her. "What's the point in living?"

"You're not going to a concert, you're going to take your butt upstairs and suffer through this party just like I have to, now go." Natalia groans before hopping off the desk and stalking out of the workshop. Katie sighs before looking over to Tony. "You too, lets go do this." Tony lets out a dramatic sigh before standing to his feet and heading over to her, but stops half way there. She looks over to him with a quirked brow. "What?"

"I uh—I had a nightmare last night." he says and he pauses for a moment, waiting for her to say something. "A real doozy of craziness. You were gone, and no one remembered who you were, but me." she smiled before walking over to him. "I had to get you back."

"Why you?"

Tony closed his eyes and let out a deep breath before stepping forward, and bringing his arms around her in a hug. Katie returned the embrace, letting out a sigh as well.

"You tell me."

"Well if I had to guess I would say that in the event that I suddenly got swallowed into none existence, only one person could save me." she smiled. "My best bud, my amigo, my-"

"Oompa to your loompa," Tony says smiling as well, before pulling back to look down to the woman.

"The peanut butter to my jelly. I'm awesome, you're awesome and together we're-"

"Fucking awesome." Tony says chuckling before they turned and began walking toward the door. They stopped at the door, and Tony turned to her and she looked back to him. "So this dream-"

"Just a dream, now come on and let's get this over with." Tony just laughed before they went upstairs.

It still felt like a dream. Tony found Pepper, stuck by her side as they mulled about talking to some familiar faces and some unfamiliar faces. He found himself glancing over to her, just to make sure she was real. Just to make sure people were actually seeing her, actually talking to her. Just to come to grips that she really was here. Maybe that dream that felt too real was just in fact a dream.

"Just give it to her." Pepper's voice's brought Tony back to the moment, and he turned to Pepper before looking over to Wanda and Sam who were both looking over to him in amusement. "Your gift, just give it to her."

"Can't," Tony says once again glancing over to Katie before turning back to his wife. "Not the right time."

"Ok, I don't get it." Sam said looking from Tony to Pepper. "I still don't know what your deal is with Katie. I think Natasha said something about blackmail-" Tony scoffed.

"There was no blackmail. I enticed her to work for me." Tony said and Pepper laughed with a shake of her head and Tony looked over to her. "You have a different recollection of events, honey?" Pepper smiled wildly before looking back to Sam prepared to tell the version of that story she knew her husband would disagree with.

Clint Barton loved this new life. This life where he could do something as normal as throw his wife a birthday party she hated. This party where he also had to clean up after a bunch of eat and run moochers, and yet he still smiled.

"So I think everything's pretty much cleaned up out there." Pepper says carrying in a few gifts from the table outside. "Wanda and Natasha are attempting to clean up, Bruce and Sam are carrying the tables and chairs back into the barn, while Rhodey and Rick are planning on some sort of race to see whose faster. Oh and Matthew and Darcy at each other's throats." she chuckled with a shake of her head. She glanced over into the living room where she saw Morgan and CJ sitting on the floor in front of Vision who seemed to be telling a story. She quirked a brow before looking over to Clint. "I don't know why, but that worries me." Clint looks over and glances into the living room and laughs.

"I have no idea how he did it, but he was able to put a stop to whatever those two were planning." Clint says and Pepper just sighed, glancing over to them once more before heading into the kitchen to help Clint with washing dishes. "Oh you don't have to."

"Yes I do, because if I help you, I won't be forced to try to pull my husband from downstairs." Pepper says walking over to grab a towel. "You clean, I'll dry." Clint gave a nod before handing the woman a plate. "So how long have they been down there?"

"I'd rather not answer questions that might upset me." Clint says eyes glancing out the window, and shaking his head at his friends making fools of themselves. "No need to get upset about things we can't change."

"Right," Pepper looks down to the glass in her hands. "It will never change." Clint stopped and glanced over to the woman who looked over to him and just shook her head. "I think I get it now."

"Get what?"

"I think Tony and Katie were meant to be in each other's lives." Pepper's brow furrows as she turns and leans her back against the counter. It was the first time she'd said the words out loud. Though there were many times she'd thought them. Times she'd see the pair engaging in some animated conversation, or using technical words she'd think they'd made up. She glanced into the living and smiled at the sound of Morgan and Cj's laughter. Clint followed her eyes and sighed at the pair of laughing children and he couldn't help but understand her words. Pepper looked back over to Clint and sighed before turning around to continue to help with the dishes.

Katie tapped her chin as she stared in what a mild state of confusion and shock. Tony stood beside her waiting for her to say something.

"C'mon, you've had plenty of time to digest this." he said nudging her shoulder. "So, best birthday gift ever, or-" Katie glanced over to him with a quirked brow. "I told you I was working on this!"

"Yeah, but I only half believe the things you say." Katie turned and just shook her head. "Tony you built me a suit."

"I did."

"I'm eight months pregnant."

"I'm not telling you to put it on now. This is for a just in case there's another end of the world catastrophe." Tony turned to her. "That way everyone will come to you and not me and I can stay blissfully happy with the wife and kid." she turned to the man with a smile and just shook her head. "I mean I'd help if you couldn't hack it, but-" she swat his arm before turning back to the suit.

"J2, structure scan for me." Katie ordered and soon they watched a light appear from the ceiling and scan over the suit before Katie reached forward and swiped the image to the screen on the other side of the workshop. "I'm not saying I'm going to wear that thing, but I'd like to know all the bells and whistles you added." she looked over to see the man with the cocky smirked as he rubbed his hands together.

"I thought you'd never ask." Tony says and she just laughs before turning and preparing to be amazed. Which she was. After he was done, he looked over to Katie, and noticed that she'd turned away from his presentation and wasn't actually paying attention. "I think I'm offended." she turned back to him with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry, Tony, I'm just-" she shook her head and that's when he noticed the slight frown. "Have a lot on my mind."

"Did you want to talk about it?"

Katie turned away, before walking over to take the seat at her desk. Tony frowned before walking over to sit on the edge of the desk,

"I can't-" she looks up to him and he can see that whatever this is, really is something serious. " Not yet. I have to talk to Bart first." she turned away from him and he let out a sigh.

"So tomorrow?" he asked and Katie laughed looking over to him before lifting her head at the sudden voice of the man's wife.

"Tony?" Pepper said and Katie turned to the man with a smile as she saw the man visibly deflate. "Can you hear me?"

"I can dear." Tony says before Katie types a few keys and suddenly the image of Pepper near the door to the basement appears and Tony turns as well.

"We have to go. CJ and Morgan somehow conned Vision into taking them outside."

"I'm almost afraid to ask." Tony says looking to the image of his wife as she just shook her head. "What's the damage?"

"Someone's cat." Pepper just dropped her head to her palm. "They somehow built some sort of device out of the baby monitor and attempted to use it to get the cat to actually talk." Tony turned to Katie who eyes brows rose in intrigue that he seemed to share.

"Did it work?" Tony asked and they turned to see the glare Pepper had fixed on that door and he just knew he should probably quit while he was ahead. "I mean, I'll talk to her again." he looked over to Katie who stood to her feet. "Where exactly is the baby monitor now?"

"Really Tony!" Pepper said before turning and stalking off.

"You better leave before you're sleeping out on the hammock tonight." Katie says before nudging her head for the door. Tony walked along aside her as they walked up the steps.

"Why a cat?" Tony asked suddenly and Katie looked over to him and laughed.

Clint was glad the moment he walked into the house and only heard silence. All the guests were gone, his kids were asleep...or that's what he thought until he heard the sound of the television playing in the living room. That's where he found his eldest daughter sitting in front of the television as she enjoyed a slice of birthday cake. He walked and sat beside her and she glanced over to him before turning back to the television.

"You disappeared on me." he said reaching over and sliding a finger across the cake and taking a bit of frosting into his mouth. "I thought you were gonna be my partner in crime today, what happened?" she just mumbled something with a shrug as she continued enjoying her cake. He looked over to her, and he just smiled. This smart mouthed, snarky, tough, beautiful human was one third...soon to be one fourth of the reason his entire world spun.

"Stop staring, dad, you're being weird." she said, still not even looking over to him. He chuckled before placing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Finish the cake and then go up to bed." Clint says standing to his feet. "Where's mom?"

"Swing." Natalia said nudging her head toward the front door. Clint nodded before heading toward the door. "Did you hear what the babies did to Mrs. Louise's cat?" Natalia laughed at the groan that escaped her father.

Clint walked out the front door onto the porch, glancing out to see his wife swaying back and forth on the swing in front of the house. He smiled before walking over. She glanced over to him as he took the seat beside her. He lifted his arm and she slid closer to him, dropping her head to this chest.

"The party wasn't that bad." Clint says pleading the case he knows he's going to have to defend for a while. "I saw you smile and laugh a few times. Admit it, you had a good time."

"No such words will ever escape my lips, Mr. Barton." Katie says and Clint smiles down to her, placing a kiss to the top of her head. They soon find themselves swaying in a comfortable silence when Katie finally speaks.

"What if it was a mistake?"

"What if what was a mistake?" Clint asks and Katie hesitates to answer the question. Clint notices and pulls back a bit to look down to her and she sighs before turning back to him. "Kat?"

"Everything changed. I changed it and I'm not sure I should've...I'm not sure I had the right." Clint looks down to his wife still unsure of what she was talking about, but he sees the concern in her face and knows whatever this is, it's actually upsetting her.

"Hey Kat, I need you to tell me what's going on?" Clint said, and Katie turned away, still afraid of this conversation. She let out a sigh before standing to her feet and turning to Clint who still watched her. "You're really scaring me, right now." Katie's eyes look to the seat of the swing, and Clint follows her eyes to see a sketch book. He reach over picking it up, looking down to see Natalia's name written on the front of it.

"She said she was having weird dreams." Katie says and Clint looks over to her and she shrugs. "So I gave her that figuring that putting the dreams on paper would help her understand them." Clint stares at his wife for a moment before looking back down to the sketch book, flipping open the first page with a furrowed brow at the sight of something he really didn't expect to see. There drawn was that gold glove, those colorful gems aligning across it. He looked back up to his wife with a frown before looking back down to the sketch book and flipping the page, gasping at the sight of the accurately drawn picture of the Red Skull. Page after page, a picture of Loki holding the Tessaract, a scribbled drawing of the Time Stone being ripped from Stephen's neck. The very last page a was the figure that doesn't have a face. It's just the scribbled image of a cloaked figure, that's completely black. The words "Mistress of Death" written below it. Clint looks down to the image for a few moments trying to piece together what all of this means before he returns his gaze back to his wife. He now understands the expression on her face because it soon takes over his own.

"What if I made a mistake?"

"We don't know what this is." Clint says tossing the book down walking over to his wife. "This is just the reason Tai needs to cut down on the horror movies before bed." he brings his arms around her, hoping to comfort her, to ease her worries. "Kat, we have it. Our life is good. We found it. The life that doesn't have to be about heroes and villains. Ok?" he looked at her for a moment, needing her to confirm it. Needing to see her tell him that she can accept that the dark dreams of a nine year old were nothing to disrupt their lives over. "Ok?" she looked at him knowing exactly what he needed to hear and so she smiled and gave him a nod.

"Ok, you're right." she fell into his arms, dropping her head to his chest letting out a heavy sigh. She opened her eyes, listening to the thump of his heart beat under her ear. "You're right." he placed a kiss to her cheek before pulling back.

"It's late, let's get to bed Mrs. Barton." Katie nodded before watching him turn and head to the house. She took a step to follow, but stopped and glanced up to the billions of balls of exploding gas lights that hung above her, watching her just as intently she was watching them.

"Whatever is coming, know that I’m done running." she whispered to whoever was listening. "I'll be right here." She dropped her eyes at something suddenly brushing against her leg, and she quirked a brow at the patchy furred cat and just shook her head before picking it up and letting out a sigh. She glanced up to the stars once more before heading inside the house.

**The End**

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it. That's how it ends. I want to thank everyone who stuck around on this journey through this Running Series. I'm actually kind of sad to see it end. Thanks for your interest in this OC who I loved writing. If you loved her, hated her, she was who I needed her to be to escape my world into hers.


End file.
